Konoha High
by c3llard00r
Summary: Hazuki Tōketsu is a pretty normal sixteen year old who loves to surf. After something tragic happened in her life, she is finding it hard to find a way out of her misery. She is then forced to move back to her birth place of Japan for a change of scenery. Follow Hazuki threw her three years of high with Naruto and friends.
1. Chapter 1

The alarm went off waking Hazuki from the first night of real sleep she had in the last few months. She opened one of her dark blue eyes, peered through her messy long brownish black hair, and reached for her alarm clock. The black and white panda had a clock face in its belly and was rocking back and forth from the force she smacked her hand down on it. The walls of her room were a pale blue and littered with surfing, anime and panda images. All the furniture was a light wood color that almost matched the hardwood floor. Her bed was under the only window in the room and against the wall opposite of the door. The window was hung and almost took up the whole wall. There was only enough room to fit her Aloha AF2 surfboard and the four dour dresser next to it. On top of the dressed was a pirate figure her father bought her at pirate week one year when they went and a basket filled with random hair and beauty products. There was a decent size windowsill so above the bed was random colored pillows that Hazuki sometimes used to sit against while she read. There were random knick-knacks and seashells lining the rest of the windowsill. Long curtains the same shade of her bed set draped on both sides. There was a nightstand with a lamp, her panda alarm clock a picture of her parents and whatever book she was reading at the time next to the bed. Next to the dresser on the same wall as the door was a blue tie-dyed beanbag chair, and next to that was a short but long bookshelf covered in books and other random things. Opposite of her bed was a sliding door closet and her desk was next to that.

As she decided she wasn't going to get up and started to pull her blue blanket over her head, she heard her grandmother walking down the hallway. Mameha was a woman in her late seventies but in perfect health and shape. She wore her dark grey hair in a bun towards the top of her head. There was a lighter streak of hair that ran through the little bit of bangs she had on the right side of her face and up into and threw the bun. She had the same dark blue eyes minus the beauty mark under the right eye that Hazuki and Hazuki's father, her son had.

"ZuZu…Honey, are you up yet? You don't want to be late for your first day of school."

The nickname that never bothered her before made her feel angry. She threw the blanket back.

Pushing the unnecessary anger away, "Yeah, I'm up," she said swing her legs out of the bed and headed to the bath room.

While she brushed her teeth and did the normal things to get ready her grandmother continued to talk to her about random things. However, with her mind elsewhere, like it always was now a days, she didn't hear a word. After a few minutes Mameha realized her granddaughter wasn't paying attention yet again and she had enough. She watched her granddaughters reflection in the mirror and though to herself. _Hazuki really is the spitting image of her mother; only her eyes are her fathers. I see so much of the both of them in her just not lately. I want my smiling happy ZuZu back, not this depressed shell of a person._ She shook her head and decided to try and talk to her again.

As soon as Hazuki entered the kitchen she could tell it was going to be another one of those mornings. She wasn't in the mood to hear it again. She decided to skipping breakfast was the best choice so she would only have to suffer through half of it.

"Hazuki, you need to snap out of this. It has been over a week since you have been here and I haven't seen you smile once. I understand what you have gone through more than people half your age; however you can't keep this up. You don't care about anything, you are always somewhere else and it needs to stop. I love you and I am not going to put up with it much longer," she sighed and touched Hazuki's cheek, "I'm just worried about you. Try and have a good time at school. Make some friends…"

Hazuki cut her off as she pulled away, "I'm going to be late. I'll see you after school." She grabbed her dark shoulder bag and headed out the door. The blue and white panda keychain, bounced off the side of the bag as she stormed down the street.

The sun was shining and it looked like it was going to be a nice mid-April day. Not a sign of rain was anywhere to be seen. There was a time nice weather would have made Hazuki ecstatic. However, her mood was so terrible the last few months even the sun couldn't put a dent in it. She barely paid attention to her surrounds. She only knew she was closer to the school due to the group of kids, all in the black and white uniforms of her new school, heading in the same direction. The boys wore white collared shirts with a pocket on the left breast and black pants and the girls wore black skirts, white short sleeved sailor suits with a black collar and red tie. The school logo was embroidered onto both ends of the shirt sleeves. They all looked questioning at the new girl wearing the same uniform and Hazuki hated every minute of it. She tried to act like she didn't notice the other kids and continued on her way.

The school was only about a fifteen minute walk away. The building was surrounded by a forest of trees, a towering rod iron gate and fence. The same logo as on the uniform and the words Konoha High School were written on a sign mounted on the left archway of the gate. If it wasn't for the building looking almost new and being in the middle of a fairly busy city, you got the old abandoned building lost in the middle of the woods feel. The school itself looked like any other normal high school in Japan. Hazuki took a deep breath as she entered the building.

In the office there were two men around their twenties sitting at opposing desks. One was leaning back in his chair with his feet on the desk looking rather bored even though the school day didn't officially start yet. He had long dark spiky hair and dark eyes, and he wasn't bad to look at. He had a Band-Aid over the bridge of his none and a mark on his chin that was the same shade as his hair but wasn't a goatee. Hazuki ended up pondering over that every time she saw him. The other man had chin length brown hair with his right eye covered by bangs. His eyes were also dark. He looked more matter of fact by the way he was actually working, arranging papers and doing normal secretary things. Hazuki sat watching the two men waiting for the principal to call for her. She didn't have to wait much longer when a very pretty woman who was rather busty came out to greet her. She had straight blonde hair pulled into two low pigtails with shoulder-length bands framing her face. Her eyes were brown and she had a violet rhombus mark on her forehead. She had the air of a strong woman who you didn't want to piss off. Principal Tsunade was a nice woman and explained the bases of how the school worked and what was expected of her. She didn't go into much detail because that was the job of the student council president, which Hazuki was to meet after she finished up some paperwork.

After Hazuki was finishing up the last bit of information a boy walked into the office with long dark hair. He had the oddest colored eyes she had ever seen. They were a white violet and appeared to not have any pupils, however if you looked closer they were indeed there. He wore a headband around his forehead that matched the color of his uniform. He introduced himself has Hyuga Neji. He was the student class president, an honor student, the undefeated martial artist in the school, the captain of the Judo Club and a member of the Kendo Club. He was a busy boy. Neji was very matter of fact and good at explaining what was needed. He gave some much information that Hazuki stopped paying attention half way through. She figured she would just go with it. She had no intents of making friends or even being in a club, she wanted to keep to herself.

"You'll pick up on everything fast, and you can always come to me with any questions. Well here we are," he finished stopping in front of a door with a sign above the doorway labeled 1B.

"Do you have any questions before we head in?"

She just shook her head no. Neji nodded and opened the door for her.

She was greeted by a classroom of curious eyes. _Man this sucks_ she thought has she took her place in front of the classroom. Her teachers name was Mr. Hatake. He was tall and well built. He had dark eyes with a scar over the left one and spiky white hair. He wore a medical mask over his nose and mouth which made him look a paranoid germaphobe. She was going to have a field day trying to figure him out. He explained Hazuki was a new transfer student from America and for everyone in the class to help her out with questions she might have. Then explained to Hazuki to introduce and tell a little about herself. Then the floor was hers.

Hazuki bowed, "Hello, my name is Tōketsu Hazuki. I was born here in Japan but when I was five I had to move to America because of my father's job. I just moved back to stay with my grandmother. I like surfing, the ocean and shogi, and that pretty much sums it up," Hazuki shrugged her shoulders with the last part, then stood there even more uncomfortable until Mr. Hatake gave her the okay to take her seat.

Her seat was towards the back of the class room a row away from the widows facing the side of the school. Just over the treetops you could see the city buzzing around. As soon as she sat Mr. Hatake started the math lesson for the day. Hazuki was trying to follow what he was saying but math was never her strong point. She was about to just give up when she heard and psst coming from her left side. She looked over at a girl with wavy brown hair pulled into a high ponytail and bangs covering most of her forehead and framing her freckled face. She had bright innocent looking orange red eyes, and she had a big smile on her face.

"Hi! I'm Reika, and I hope maybe we can be friends. You must be really nervous starting a new school in a different country. I'm really curious what it's like living in American, "she stopped mid-sentence as a piece of chalk went flying pass her head. Her eyes grew wide with fear as the creepiest voice Hazuki has ever heard said Miss Hanko.

"I understand that I said to help Miss. Tōketsu with any questions she might have, however I did not mean for it in the middle of my class," Mr. Hatake face was ever creepier then his voice.

"Sorry Sir." Reika lowered her eyes as her cheeks turned red.

"Shall we continue," he turned back to the chalk board and finished writing out the problem he was explaining.

You would think that after so long Reika would be used to getting in trouble for talking but she wasn't. She was still a little embarrassed; she felt her first impression with Hazuki was ruined. She really wanted to be friends with her; there was just something about her. Plus she seemed like an interesting person but she also looked so sad. Reika was a person who felt it was her job to make everyone feel better. She looked back over to the girl. Her dark hair fell down her back her bands were parted on the left with most of them covering the right side of her face. There was one little strain that fell in the middle of her forehead. Every so often she would push it aside, only for it to fall right back into place. Reika sighed as she looked back at the chalk board. _It's okay_ she decided to herself. _I'm overreacting. There is still time for us to be friends, and I'll introduce her to everyone._ She pushed her embarrassment away and smiled to herself as she tried to catch up with the notes scribbled across the board.

After math was Japanese language, English after that and then Biology. All the classes besides Biology were in the same room as homeroom. That was going to take some getting used to. For the last three years Hazuki was use to moving to different classrooms and up and down stairs all day. She always complained about it and now it felt weird not doing it. Plus she wasn't able to avoid people as easily. Every time there were a few minutes between classes she was bombarded with questions and information from Reika and different people. By the end of the day her classmates were going to know more about her then she even did. She actually missed her old high school and that was saying a lot. Hazuki always hated school even thought she had good grades and in Japan school was a big deal. She was going to have a long road ahead of her.

It was finally lunch time and Hazuki was going to have time away from people. She hated all the attention. She was tired of being the new girl and only half of the day was over. She decided the roof top would be a great escape, plus she didn't want to be stuck around eating people when she had nothing. During her storming from the house she forgot her lunch and the little bit of money she had. She cursed at herself the entire time on her way up to the roof.

The day was still sunny and nice but there was a cool breeze picking up. The roof looked like any other school roof. There was a wall a few feet high lining the circumference of the building. The top was just wide enough for a person to sit on along with a chain linked fence on top of it. She picked a nice shady spot a few feet to the left of the stair well and sat on the still warm concrete.

Hazuki was laying with her upper body in the shade to keep the sun out of her eyes and her lower half out in the warming sun. She was lost in thought starting at the puffy white clouds, when the one memory that has been haunting her for the last six months flashed threw her head. Like every time she instantly lost herself and let that moment cross her mind, she could feel her heart break, stomach drop and the tears start to stream down her face. Hazuki squeezed her eyes shut and tried to push the memory back into its deep place in her mind, but it was never that easy. After a few minutes she was interrupted by the sound of the door opening followed by footsteps coming towards her. She opened her eyes and was greeted by the faces of two guys from her class. Both were staring down at her. One had dark black hair pulled back into a spiky ponytail, which reminded Hazuki of a pineapple, dark brown eyes and both his ears pierced with silver studs. His face held a hint of annoyance and boredom. She remembered him from this morning only because his head was buried in his arm on his desk. He only raised his head when he heard the word shoji. The other boy was on the heavier side with shoulder length light brown spiky hair, dark eyes and red swirl marks on his cheeks. He also had his ears pierced with the same earrings. He had kind and sweet look to him.

"Are you okay," The heavier boy asked with concern in his eyes.

In one quick movement Hazuki stood up to face the boys while whipping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'm fine there was something in my eye."

The dark haired boy rolled his eyes then spoke, "You're in my spot."

"I don't see your name on it," she replied jumping on the defensive.

He looked like he was about to come back with something when Hazuki's stomach let loose the sound of thunder rolling in. _Oh great, first they catch me crying and now this and I don't even frigging know these two. What the hell! _She thought as she felt her cheeks turning red.

"You can have your spot. I was done with it anyway." She turned and started heading to the stairwell. She wanted to get out of there as fast as she could. She was almost to the door when she heard the nice boy calling for her to wait.

"Here," he threw her a bag of chips. She caught them and thanked him before opening the door and heading down the steps.

In the doorway she looked down at the pink and yellow bag of chips. There was a potato like guy mascot on the package. He reminded her of Mr. Peanuts from Planters Nuts back in the states. As she started down the steps she replayed what just happened in her head, while starting to shove chips in her mouth. She tried to remember their names. _I think his name was Choji, Chojin something like that. The other one will be hence forth known as pineapple head because he's an asshole and I don't care to remember his name. He can drop dead for all I care what a jerk. _

"You're in my spot," she mocked trying to imitate his voice.

She continued back in the direction she thought her class room was and decided she was going to have to pay Choji back. It was odd but that small little act made a little of the sadness in Hazuki lessen just a tiny bit.

Choji was lost in thought starting at the door the new girl just went through until Shikamaru brought him back to the here and now.

"What a drag. I hope this doesn't turn into a habit of hers," Shikamaru said leaning back against the wall and lighting a cigarette.

"I don't know. I wonder what was wrong. She was crying and I don't think she had any lunch. Do you think she was crying because she didn't eat lunch," Choji leaned next to his friend, opening another bag of chips.

"Girls don't cry over not eating. I wouldn't worry about it," he took a drag from his cigarette and exhaled it before continuing. "She just moved here from another country she's probably missing her friends and wants to go back home. Plus I'm more concerned about you. Are you feeling okay? You gave her a bag of chips. I've never seen you do that before."

Choji shrugged "I don't know. I didn't want her to be hungry I guess. So what's going on with you and Temari? Are you still on the outs?"

"You're a good guy Choji," he smiled at his friend "Were on the outs its more trouble than it's worth anymore."

The rest of the day dragged on slower than the first half. When the cleaning and homeroom meeting was finally over Hazuki was able to slip out without having to talk to anyone.

The apartments, houses and small stores that lined the streets soon turned into a dirt road with trees scattered around. Huge traditional style houses were placed randomly around and in between all the trees. As she reached the front gate of her house she slowed down her pace. Hazuki knew she was disrespectful to her grandmother this morning and didn't really want to face her yet. So she headed around the house to the backyard, then onto the old wooden dock that led to the small lake. Some of the other houses around had similar docks out into the lake. It kind of reminded her of her cousin's house back home, only the style of houses threw it off. Hazuki wanted to be closer to the ocean and this lake was no ocean but it would do. That was the one thing that still made her smile, the ocean and surfing. _Maybe that's what's making me even more irritable. I haven't surfed in a long time. _She thought dropping her bag to the dock and sitting down next to it. _I have to see where the closest place to surf is and head there soon. _ The water was too cold to put her feet in so she opted to just trail her fingers along the surface.

Hazuki looked around when she heard the crickets start playing their nightly music. She then noticed the sun had gone down and she was sitting in the dark in her backyard. She grabbed her bag and headed towards the house. The house was too big for just the two of them but it had been in the family for so long her grandmother couldn't bring herself to leave. It was one of the older houses that had some modern updates to it. Like the bathrooms, kitchen and a few other things. Just as she entered the house and took off her shoes her stomach announced her arrival. Hearing the front door Mameha grabbed a towel and left the kitchen.

"Oh welcome home ZuZu your late, dinner will be ready soon would you sent the table," Mameha wiped her hands on a towel then headed back to the kitchen.

After dinner Hazuki headed up stairs after she apologized and helped her grandmother with the dishes. She made sure to put her wallet into her bag then went to take a quick shower. After her longer then she intended shower it was right into homework. When she was done she grabbed the book laying on her nightstand, climbed under her covers and fell asleep about an hour later, book still in hand.

The next day on her way to school Hazuki stopped at one of the little stores and bought a bag of chips to replace the ones that were giving to her the day before. The day was like her first only not as many questions and she was in a little bit of a better mood. At lunch she headed up to the roof, placed the bag of chips in Pineapple Heads spot and headed to find a quite spot to eat lunch. After lunch the rest of the day was normal. As she was getting ready to leave it seemed like Choji wanted to talk to her but she was able to slip out like the previous day. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to him, she didn't want to deal with the awkwardness of the thank you or to give him the impression they were going to become friends.

The rest of the week was just like the first day. It didn't take Hazuki long to get into the swing of things. However, the first gym class was pretty interesting. The teachers was called Guy Sensei and he was the most unique and corny person Hazuki had ever met. He was tall and well-built, with black hair in a bowl haircut. He had abnormally thick eyebrows over dark eyes. He also had a habit of constantly making comments about youth, the power of it and so on. He also liked to give thumbs up while winking and smiling. His teeth were so white Hazuki swore that times they shined and gave off a ping sound. He also had an unnatural relationship with a classmate named Rock Lee. Lee had the same hair style and eyebrows and he acted the exact same way. Lee also had dark hair into the same bowl style. He also had abnormally think eyebrows over oval shaped dark eyes and acted the exact same way. It kind of creeped Hazuki out until Reika explained how Lee had no family and Guy was like a mentor and friend. They spent time together like a father and son. However, even with that information it was still weird. Not only was the teacher something that class just happened to be the physical fitness test.

Hazuki flinched as Guy announced the test with way too much enthusiasm. Every team and club captain was driving her crazy trying to get her to join and that was without seeing her run. Once they saw her run it was going to be all over. _They're never going to let up now, great. _She thought as everyone lined up to start the test. Sit-ups, pushups, pull-ups it was like any other school fitness test. When it was time for the running portions everyone lined up to take their turn running on the track while being timed. Hazuki was planning on just running slow when she heard a few kids behind her bickering over who was faster. One of the boys had messy brown hair. He had sharp dark eyes with slit-like pupils which reminded Hazuki of canine eyes. On his cheeks he had red fang looking markings. The other boy had spiky blonde hair with bright blue eyes and whisker marks on both his cheeks. They were both going on and on about who was faster that by the time it was Hazuki's turn she wanted to hit both of them. _Screw it. It will be worth dealing with everyone to show up these two idiots._ She thought with a smirk as she took her place and Guy reset the time. On the count of three she took off at full speed.

The wind whipped her ponytail back and forth behind her as she flew down the track. It felt good to run fast, not a thought ran threw her mind. It was a moment of peace. She snapped back to reality when Guy yelled her time at 1:59. When she turned and saw the look on everyone's faces, especially the two bickering boys, she knew all the aggravation she was going to have would be worth it. It wasn't long before they both went to there "I can do better" demeanor. The boy with the dark hair was named Kiba. Of course he was the captain of the track team and his time was 2:04. While the blonde one's name was Naruto and his time was 2:33. You could tell both were annoyed that Hazuki beat both of them, but once Kiba realized he beat Naruto they went back to bickering. When class was over and Hazuki was making her way to the girls locker rooms Kiba run up to her.

"Hey, your names Hazuki right," he started "I'm the captain of the track team, Inuzuka Kiba, and I want to invite you to join. You're really good and…," Hazuki stopped paying attention after that.

When he was done with long defiantly rehearsed speech Hazuki took a minute to look like she was actually considering it.

"Thanks for the offer but no," she turned and started to the locker rooms again.

"Wait," he stopped her and looked around "Don't tell anyone I said this because I have a reputation here but you're really fast, and we can really use it. Please join," he bowed in front of her.

"I'm sorry but no,"

"How bout we race then. Just once around the track. If I win you join. If I lose I'll leave you alone,"

"Were you not in class a few minutes ago? I was faster than you," Hazuki crossed her arms over her chest. He was getting a little cocky.

"Only by 5 seconds. What are you afraid you can't beat me in a race?" he smirked.

"Fine, let's do this. I don't want to be that late for lunch," she sighted and followed Kiba back to the start line.

Reika and a few others gathered around when they noticed what was going on. Someone yelled 1,2,3 and they were off. You could hear the crowed that gather yelling encouragements to both Kiba and Hazuki. She was surprised when she heard her name in the distance and would have played if off that she imagined it, but she heard it again. She was pulled back into the race when she felt Kiba right next to her. He was trying to run just a little faster than her. He was determined to make her join the team, but Hazuki was just as determined not to join. He was keeping right next to her and for a moment she thought it might be a tie but as they reached the last turn, with one last hard push, Hazuki was able to get the few inches ahead. She won again by only a few seconds, but a win was a win.

As they both tried to catch their breath, everyone rushed around them. Kiba tried to get a rematch.

"Sorry no I won. Now I have to go. I'll see you around," Hazuki headed towards the locker rooms. Reika gave Kiba a sad smile and headed after her.

Kiba crossed his arms and complained to himself all the way to the boy's locker room surrounded by his friend. _Humph, just wait and see. I'll set Reika on her. She's almost my girl. I'm sure she'll be willing to help me. _He thought as he pulled off his gym clothes and headed to the shower.

By the end of the day it was like the whole school knew how fast Hazuki was and how she beat Kiba again in a one on one race. _I knew word would travel fast but I didn't think it would be this fast. _Hazuki thought as she helped Reika clean the chalk board. Reika was chatted about the race after gym. How she felt bad for Kiba because he was the captain of the Track team, and not only did he lose a race it was to a girl. However, she was happy that Hazuki won because yay for Hazuki and girls beating boys. The cute goofy girl was starting to grow on Hazuki but at times her cheerfulness she couldn't handle. When they were done Hazuki was able to slip out like always.

Over the next few weeks everything really became routine. Kiba kept bugging Hazuki for a rematch, and when she pointed out that she won and he wasn't to ask her again, he replied that this was okay because he wasn't asking her to join. He was asking her for a rematch. After some time she would just say no before he could even ask. Reika was trying so hard for them to be friends but Hazuki could only give so much. She just wasn't ready to really get close to anyone just yet. Choji would have small talk with her but it always felt like he wanted to say something more but wasn't sure how to. She was doing pretty good at avoiding Pineapple Head, and she was at least learning everyone's name in her class. Though there wasn't much communication but when there was she was polite and nice. However, lunch had become a special thing to Hazuki over the last few weeks. She was able to find a quite spot on the eastern part of the campus under a nice tree. There were very few students there come lunchtime and the few who were all seemed to be there for the same reasons, to be alone. She just put her rice ball to her mouth when she saw Reika walking towards her. Hazuki had a feeling this wasn't a good idea but Reika had a huge smile on her face and three other girls from class in tow; Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino and Hyūga Hinata. Sakura had bright short pink hair with bangs parted in the middle, pushed to both sides and big bright green eyes. Ino had blue eyes and long blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail with bangs covering her right eye and face. She wore a purple clip on the left side that matched the purple hair tie she used for her ponytail. Hinata had the same odd eyes as Neji with dark blue black hair. They shared the same eyes because it turned out they were cousins. Reika explained that awhile go during a group project.

"Hi Hazuki, do you mind if we sit with you." She motioned to the other girls with her.

Hazuki kind of felt put on the spot but what else was she going to do. They were her classmates and she couldn't be that rude. _Might as well get it over with I've gone this long. S_he thought as she smiled at the other girls and nodded her okay. The four gathered around her tree and pulled out their lunches. They all ate and talked about things normal high school girls chat about. Both Sakura and Ino were outgoing and more concerned about gossip and boys then school work and collage. Hinata on the other hand was shy and the most timid of the group. Then throw Reika in the mix, who was in the middle of outgoing and shy, with her goofiness and it was a fun and interesting group of girls. So lunch wasn't as bad as Hazuki imaged it was going to be. However, by the end of it she knew about all four girls' love lives plus half the school.

It turned out that Reika and Kiba just admitted they both liked each other. They weren't boyfriend and girlfriend yet but on their way to it. Sakura was with another boy named Sasuke. He sat on the other side of Hazuki in class. He had black chin-length hair that he spiked in the back, leaving bangs that hung on both sides of his face. He had onyx eyes and was good looking. Almost every girl wanted him and hated Sakura for being with him. He even has his own fan girls. However, Hazuki didn't see what the big deal was with him. He was nice to look at but seemed like a dick so there wasn't any further interest on her part. Ino was with a boy named Sai. He was so pale he looked sick but he wasn't. His hair was dark and cut short with dark eyes. He sat in the front of the class and he was smart but very quiet. Hinata Naruto the loud spiky blonde with the whisker marks. He sat close to Sai and he was defiantly the class clown. It didn't take Hazuki long to learn that the bickering between Naruto and Kiba at the fitness test was only the start of how they competed. However, Hinata has liked Naruto for the past year now but was still too afraid to say anything to him. Hazuki also learned that along with Ino, Pineapple Head and Choji lived close to her. Ino even explained how she was going to ask her to walk home a few times but she always ran out before anyone could talk to her. Hazuki apologized and lied that one day they would. _Of course he would live that close to me. I was doing so well not running into him again. Now I feel that's not going to be the case anymore. Damn you Reika._ She thought with a frown.

At the end of the day Choji made a point to help her take out the trash.

"You really didn't have to do that," he took the bag she was holding and threw it in the dumpster outside the back of the school.

"Do what," Hazuki looked at him confused. Seeing her confusion he smiled.

"The bag of chips, I never got to thank you for it," he threw the other bag in the dumpster.

"Oh that. I forgot about it. I know but I appreciated you giving me your bag so I felt like I should replace it."

Choji nodded, "Well Ino says you live close to us so you were walking home with her, Shikamaru and me today. There isn't any clubs today, so we're free to leave normal time."

He smile again as he opened the door for her to walk through. For the second time today she felt put on the spot so she just nodded. _Great I need to kill Ino. Dammit. Of all people why did it have to be him? Choji and even Ino are fine but really. _She thought leading Choji back into the school. She knew she shouldn't have given Reika any more than a few words in class and she had a bad feeling at lunch but she let her guard down. Now she was screwed.


	2. Chapter 2

By the middle of June Hazuki had become a part of Reika's group of friends. She didn't really have a choice. Reika pushed her into the middle of it. Reika reminded Hazuki of her cousin back in America. Manami was her best friend and she was the one person Hazuki missed the most. Reika sometimes lacked commonsense and was really clumsy. However, she was pretty good when it came to book smarts and was amazing at baking sweets. Manami was the same way. The only difference was Manami loved to just cook, and she was an artist with it. Along with Reika Hazuki starting to open up and becoming closer to Choji and the other girls. The walks home with Pineapple Head where the only bad part of the day. He was so smug, lazy, with no ambition and he just knew what buttons to push to piss her off. Just one of his looks was enough. Every time they would bicker Ino would laugh and tease that it was pent up frustration because they were madly in love which each other. Choji would just laugh but knew better then to tease about anything. Ino told Hazuki that even though he would never admit It, Choji was a little afraid of her when she was fighting with Shikamaru.

Things at home with her grandmother were getting better too. Mameha wished she would be completely back to normal but she was satisfied with her progress so far._ It was a good idea to bring her here. She needed to get away from everything that was a reminder of that horrible day. _Mameha thought watching Hazuki meet the Nara and Akimichi boys and the Yamanaka girl. They started walking to and from school together. She could hear her granddaughter yelling at the Nara boy about something as she headed to the kitchen. _That's just the way she was with Arashi when they first met._ She thought as she remembered the few weeks she traveled to America to be with Hazuki after her parents died. Arashi just moved down the street. Once the two were introduced he was always at the house, the two were inseparable yet they fought and bickered at every chance they had. However, that was in the past she needed to look towards the future. Her granddaughter was telling her things again, smiling and starting to heal.

On Friday at school Hinata invited the girls to stay over that Saturday night. When Naruto and Kiba found out they seemed jealous. So they decided to have a boy's night. That morning Hazuki was up early and helped her grandmother around the house. Reika's father was going to drop her off at Hazuki's on his way to work later that afternoon. Then they would meet up with Ino and Sakura and take a bus to Hinata's.

At around four Hazuki was packed and Reika and her father were at the door. Mr. Henko stayed to chat for a moment. He was a man in his forties with straight brown hair the same shade as Reika's and the same colored eyes. He had the same personally has his daughter only he seemed to be a little goofier, but he was a very nice man. Mameha always described him as an odd but a charming man. He was friends with Hazuki's father since high school and only lost touch when he moved his family to America. As he chatted with Mameha about 'the good old days' the girls headed down the hall to Hazuki's room. After he left Hazuki's phone went off.

Ino: Me & Sakura are ready 2 go. Meet us outside :).

Hazuki: B right out.

Hazuki kissed her grandmother on the cheek before the two girls headed out of the house. They met Ino and Sakura and headed to the bus stop. It was going to be a little bit of ride due to Hinata living the furthest from everyone else.

Hinata's house was more like an estate than a house but it was still very traditional looking. It had the arched roofs, huge windows and sliding doors. The whole house was surrounded with pouches lined with lanterns. Hazuki imaged it looked right out of the fetal era when it was lit up at night. She half expected to see Ninja's creeping around and Geishas playing and singing music within the halls. Hinata greeted them at the main gate and showed them around. The inside was more gorgeous then the outside, and like outside the inside was just as traditional. There were a few modern things like TVs, phones, modern kitchen and bathrooms. There were so many rooms that each girl mentally decided once they made it to Hinata's room that was where they were staying.

Like the rest of the house Hinata's room was big. Windows lined the wall opposite of the door. The walls were painted a pale purple. The bed set on the huge bed in the middle right wall matched the purple to the walls perfectly. There were little yellow and pink flowers that covered the sheets and pillowcases. The comforter had three big yellow flowers and two pink randomly place in the middle. All the furniture was white. There were two nightstands each on both sides on the bed and random pictures and shelves covered the walls. On the left wall was a dress, desk and bookshelf. On top of the dresser was a flat screen TV surrounded by a DVD player, a game system and DVDS. The desk held a computer, printer and other random things, while the bookshelf held books and mangas. On the floor in front of the bed five bed rolls were laid out. The girls put their bags by their claimed spots and popped a movie in the DVD player while they gossiped and waited for the pizza they ordered to arrive.

By eight most of the pizza was ate, pj's were on and they were watching the second movie of the night. When the end credits started to roll they talked about the movie for a bit but then the conversation moved to boys. Sakura was over all happy with Sasuke but sometimes he would become very distance. It would take a while for him to come around and finally talk to her about whatever was bothering him. Ino's only issue with Sai was, even though he was a lot better now, he was still kind of socially awkward and still with her at times. Reika chimed in about Kiba, while Hazuki and Hinata took the moment to avoid the conversation and look for another movie.

"I just wish he would do something already. I mean he did admit he likes me but he hasn't asked me to be his girlfriend or even out on a date yet. He only invites me if a group of us are going," Reika pouted, "It's so not fair."

"Have you ever thought of just asking him," Hazuki asked looking over at her friend from the pile of movies next to the TV.

"You make it sound so easy and it's not," she covered her face with her owl shaped pillow.

"It is that easy," Sakura started, "You know how Kiba is, one track mind."

"So true, he's all about getting Hazuki to join the track team," Hazuki game Ino a look. She laughed it off and continued." If you're sick of waiting you're going to have to do something about it," she pulled a bottle of purple nail polish from her bag.

As she started to touch up her toenails Reika pulled her pillow away and admitted she knew they were right. Just then Hazuki found Ju-On (the Grudge) and with everyone's approval she put it on. Hazuki took her spot between Ino and Reika while Hinata took hers on the other side of Reika. As Hinata pressed play on the remote Ino looked up from her toes.

"So who do you like Hazuki? You've been her long enough to get a crush," Ino asked causing the other girls to look at Hazuki.

Hazuki felt on the spot. She never looked at any of the boys like that and having a crush on someone or the other way around was nowhere in her cards anytime soon.

She shrugged "None of them."

"You can't be serious," Reika gave Hazuki I do not believe you look as Hazuki shrugged again and said she didn't.

"Well I think you and Shikamaru have a thing for each other, but I have been saying that from the start," Ino was matter of fact.

"He would be the last one I would EVER have a crush on," Hazuki rolled her eyes which caused the other girls to laugh.

"What about Choji you two spend a lot of time together," Sakura asked.

"It's nothing like that. We're just really good friends. I already said I don't like anyone. That's not something I really care about. I just want summer break to be here so I can surf. What about Hinata and Naruto," Hazuki tried to take the heat off of herself.

Hinata turned bright red and mumbled a few oh well I don't knows. She then jumped up and announced that she was going to get some popcorn for the movie and basically ran from the room. Again the room was filled with laughter. When she returned the buttery, salty goodness smelled amazing and it tasted the same way. The girls dug in as the movie started. Talk of boyfriends and crushes was over as title came up on the screen.

The movie was scarier than Hazuki remembered. There were a lot of jumps and yelps. Reika and Hinata were both wrapped in Hinata's comfort. All you could see was their faces sticking out from this purple mountain of covers. Then right at the climax of the story there was a loud bang on one of the windows. All of the girls jumped, yelled and the rest of the popcorn that was in Reika's lap went flying over the room. They all looked over that the window.

"What the hell was that," Ino asked holding her chest trying to make her pounding heart slow down.

"No clue. Let's go check it out," Hazuki got up and brushed popcorn off of herself.

The two slowly made their way to the window as the other three huddled together. The lit lanterns casted an eerie glow to the back yard which gave Hazuki a chill. Just as Hazuki went to tell the others there wasn't anything out there a head with a hideous face and a light shining on it popped up and screamed. Hazuki and Ino fell over each other as they both jumped back from the window and the other girls screamed. It took a minute for the laughter from outside to register. When Hazuki looked back at the window she was greeted by the laughing faces of Naruto, Kiba, Choji, Sai, Sasuke and Shikamaru.

"That wasn't funny! What the hell do you think you are doing," Sakura demanded as the others joined Hazuki and Ino at the window.

"It really wasn't cool. You're an ass Naruto," Hazuki leaned out the window and hit him in the arm. That only caused him to laugh more as he rubbed where she hit.

Kiba was then front and center with a six pack of cheap beer in his hands. "Let us in. We have booze," he burped causing the boys to start laughing again.

"Are you guys drunk," Reika asked.

"Oh no they can't come in, if my parents found out…" Hinata manage in her small voice.

"Then we'll go out," Ino opened the window the rest of the way and started to climb out.

Hinata started to protest but Hazuki promised it would be fine and they wouldn't let them stay long. She knew the other three were dead set on going out to the boys. Sakura was the next out, but when it was time for Reika to make her way out, no one could explain how she managed, she got herself stuck. Hazuki and Hinata helped from inside the house while Kiba and Naruto helped from outside. She finally made it out and Kiba caught her. They both blushed before they pushed away from each other. By the time Hazuki made it out after Hinata Choji was the only one who waited for her. The others found a spot with little light away from any windows to the house. Choji handed her one of the beers with a smile and they went to join the others.

The boys had more than just one six pack with them so it didn't take long for the girls to catch up to them. It only took Hinata a beer and a half to get some balls because she was actually flirting with Naruto, and he was really enjoying it. Reika was a bit of a lightweight too. Her and Kiba were in there own world making drunk googly eyes and laughing. There was one time when Kiba got up for another beer. In his drunken state tried and failed to get Hazuki to join the track team again. Reika saved Hazuki, without knowing it, when she came to see what was taking him so long_. It's not going to be much longer before they were a couple. _Hazuki thought as she watched the two_._ Sakura, Sasuke, Ino and Sai looked like they were having a match to see who could kiss longer without breathing. Hazuki nudged Choji and whispered her thought and they both laughed. Shikamaru was the only one who didn't seem to be enjoying himself. He just sat drinking his beer quietly with a miserable look on his face.

"I know you're never the life of the party but what's your problem," she asked learning around Choji, almost falling into his lap, to look at Pineapple head.

"Nothing go back to your whispering and giggling," he sneered as he drank the last of this beer and got up for another one.

"What's your problem," Hazuki started to get up and follow him but Choji grabbed her arm and shook his head no.

Just as Hazuki was going to ask him what was up there was a voice out of know where asking what the hell was going on. Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and when Hinata saw her cousin Neji come into focus she jumped up. The school president was dressed in nice dark pants with a button down blue dress shirt. He had dark vest over the shirt. He looked really good. He was followed closely behind by Tenten. Tenten was the last out of the girls in there group. However, she seldom did things with them. Mostly due to being the captain of the Kendo Club and any other free time was spent with Neji. She had brown hair that she always wore in Chinese-style buns on both side of her head and short bangs parted in the middle, which fell into her grey eyes. Only tonight it was down with slight curls in it. She usually dressed like a tomboy but tonight she was in a dark blue dress that came right above her knees. It wasn't too plain and it wasn't over girly. It looked really nice on her.

Hinata tried to explain what was going on but Neji wasn't buying it. Hazuki couldn't tell if he was more mad that the boys were there or that they were drinking. Neji was about to go to the house to wake up Hinata's parents but Ino was quicker than Hazuki.

"Hey there Tenten, what were you two up to tonight? A date maybe, and you're coming back to the house with Neji hmmm," Ino tried to walk straight but it wasn't working to well.

Before Tenten could even answer Neji spoke, "Okay fine just clean this up you get back in the house and you leave, and we'll forget this ever happened," he then turned and guided Tenten back the way they came.

Hazuki was relieved that Ino took charge. She told Hinata it was going to be fine, but Hinata was just so relieved she wouldn't stop thanking Ino. Everyone helped pick up the empty cans. When they were done everyone said their goodbyes. Reika was pleading to use the front door only to be shot down by Hazuki. Choji hung around a little longer to help Hazuki get Reika in and threw the window. After a thud and an oww from Reika, Choji and Hazuki were the last outside. Hazuki turned to thank Choji and say goodnight but she saw as worried look on his face.

"What's wrong," she asked.

"Oh nothing sorry, I was just lost in thought…You know what there is something wrong. I'm worried about Shikamaru. He's having a hard time with his breakup. It's been about a month officially but he still won't snap out of it," he looked down at his feet. "It's not like him at all. The only time he seems somewhat normal is when he's arguing with you. He seems to enjoy pushing your buttons, and I thought that tonight would help but it didn't."

"That is an understatement. Wow wait did you bring him here to see me? "

"No, no. I meant him getting out and hanging out with everyone but it didn't work. It seemed to make him worse. He wasn't himself from the moment I first saw him today and when I ask what's wrong he says nothing," he sighed "He's my best friend and he always talks to me when something is wrong."

Then as if he knew they were talking about him, Shikamaru came back to the yard to see what was taking Choji so long. When he saw Hazuki he stopped where he stood and just told Choji to hurry up. Choji told Hazuki they would talk later and they said goodbye.

By the time Hazuki make her way into the room everyone was passed out or she thought. She quietly made it to her bed. She couldn't wait to go to sleep. She snuggled down and got comfortable and she heard a voice.

"Are you sure there isn't anything going on with you and Choji?" Ino whispered over to her.

"Yes I'm sure we're just friends. Now go to sleep. Goodnight."

"Night," Ino said with a small giggle.

Hazuki had a lot of things running threw her head. Exams were coming up and with the way everyone talked about them they became a big stressor. The normal high school drama was stress enough. She was also really starting to feel antsy about not surfing for so long and now after tonight she was a little worried about Shikamaru (which felt really strange). Then there was how Ino now had her thinking strange things about Choji. Falling asleep tonight was going to be a problem.

The next day the girls were feeling hung over but helped clean up the popcorn and straighten up Hinata's room. They decided that they would go out for lunch then all head their own way. They all thanked Hinata's parents and headed to the bus stop. Lunch was nice but everyone was tired so they ate lunch and headed home.

On the walk home Hazuki debated if she should bring up what was going on with Shikamaru to Ino. It was still bugging her and she didn't want to let herself even think why that could be. _It's all that stupid crush talk last night, but if I do bring it up to Ino she'll One: look too much into it and it would only add fuel to the "there's something between him and me"; and Two: the last thing I want is for her to image this fake love triangle between Choji, Shikamaru and myself_. She thought looking over at her friend. She decided to keep the conversation where it was at. Ino noticed that something was wrong but didn't push it when Hazuki said she was fine.

After a long warm shower Hazuki finished up the rest of her homework. She watched some TV with her grandmother then headed up to bed. Her head was still buzzing but she was so tired it didn't take long for her to fall asleep.

The next few days were quiet and unexciting. It took that long for Shikamaru to come out of his weird mood. Choji couldn't explain it and didn't know what is was all about. He was just relieved it was over. Everything was pretty much back to normal but one day on the walk home Shikamaru did something odd. He waited for Ino and Choji to enter their houses and as Hazuki was heading to her house he called after her. She turned to face him her hands on her hips. Ready for whatever smart comment he was going to have.

"Well if you're going to be like that I'm not going ask you if you want to come in a play a game of Shogi. I remember on your first day you said you play," he said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

She let her arms fall to she sides and was unsure how to answer at first. _What is he up to? _She thought as she shrugged her shoulders and said okay.

Hazuki followed him through the front gate and to the side of the house. There were three wooden steps leading up to the porch that lined the back of the house. Like the rest of the house on the street it was also traditional. It reminded Hazuki of Hinata's only smaller. The back yard was surrounded by trees which made it have a secluded feeling. It was like when you were in the middle of a deep forest. In the left part of the yard was a stone fish pound. It even included a few orange, white and black koi fish. There was a small pretty garden from the pond over to the right side of the yard. It was small but cute. On the porch was an old Shoji table and two worn and weathered green mats to sit on.

Shikamaru dropped his bag next to the back door and took the seat facing Hazuki. As he started to set up the board she took the mat opposite of him. She pulled her bag off her shoulder as she examined the half set board. They were quite for the first twenty minutes of the game. Hazuki was the one who broke the silence.

"What was this all about?" she asked while she figured out her next move.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't answer a question with a question you know what I mean. Your turn," Hazuki looked at him.

"Don't be troublesome. But we're friends and friends hang out and do things they both like together. We are doing that. Is there something wrong with it," he lifted his eyes to look up at her for a second.

"No there's nothing wrong with it. We just never do this. What changed?"

"Nothing I don't have a lot of people to play this with. You're doing a good job at keeping up with me. There's even less people who can do that."

"I've played Shoji since I was young. My dad taught me. It was kind of our thing," Hazuki felt a shard pain run threw her heart at the thought of her father and playing Shogi.

She actually surprised herself saying anything about her father, and the fact that it was Shikamaru was a mind blower.

The game lasted about another hour and Hazuki won just by the skin of her teeth but of course she didn't let Shikamaru know that. She was actually shocked at how much fun she had_. That was weird. It turns out Pineapple Head is a pretty decent guy when he's not being a jerk. And we kind of have some things in common. _She thought on her way home. _I wonder how long this will last._ Her grandmother had dinner on the table when she made her way to the dining room. Mameha asked how her day was and why she was so late.

"I was over Shikamaru's house. We were playing a game of Shogi. I won," Hazuki bragged as she stuck a piece of steamed broccoli into her mouth.

"Oh really, that's something new. Play shogi with him. That's good. Now you should really think about joining a club or sport," Mameha whipped her mouth with her napkin.

"Please Grandma not you to."

Hazuki explained how Kiba was relentless about bugging her to join the Track team. Her grandmother laughed.

After dinner Hazuki went through the normal routine. Help clean up dinner, a shower, homework and now studying for the exams started. Hazuki headed to bed after she unwound by reading a chapter of her book. She fell asleep trying to figure out what Shikamaru's deal was and why in hell did she lose herself with him that she spoke about her father. Life was easier when she avoided everyone, but she wasn't as lonely now.


	3. Chapter 3

Over the next two weeks in July everyone at school was on edge and needed a break. Exams were in another week and it was all anyone could think or talk about. The shogi games became a regular thing with Shikamaru. Even though they still bickered they were starting to get along. Reika and Kiba were starting to spend more time together. Even Naruto and Hinata were together more. The night of the sleepover turned out to be a good thing.

It was at lunch on a Friday, everyone was there, when Lee came up with the idea of everyone going to the Karaoke Bar after school. It didn't take long for a group to agree and the plans were made. Lee, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Hinata, Ino, Sai, Kiba, Reika, Choji and Hazuki were going. Shikamaru claimed it would be too troublesome but Choji was convincing he would get him there. The rest of their small group had other plans. Neji and Tenten both had "different plans" but everyone knew that wasn't true. They still insisted they weren't a couple but everyone knew they were. Takaya another member of the group, who was hardly around, he wasn't in school again today so he was out. Everyone knew he would be sorry about it. They all had a mental image of his dark eyes brimming with tears. He would pull his black baseball hat off of his chin length brown hair and wipe his eyes in it. He would be complaining the whole time about always being left out. Raiden Takaya's best friend just said he was busy. He pushed his dark hair out of his blue almost white eyes and walked away. Shino the last one of the group had dark bushy brown hair with dark eyes that you hardly seen due to the dark round sunglasses he always wore. He already had plans with his girlfriend so he couldn't make it. At the word girlfriend Naruto had an over the top reaction about Shino having one. He got looks from the group while Shino explained annoyed how this was the hundredth time this was being explained to him.

After school the twelve of them piled onto the train and headed to the Karaoke place. Choji was right about Shikamaru coming because his ponytail could just been seen bouncing pass the window. He gave Hazuki his usual smirk as he stood next to her. She stuck her tongue out at him then turned her head to finish her conversation with Reika.

The karaoke bar was called Tanoshii Karaoke. _Fun Karaoke hmmm original, _Hazuki laughed to herself. The set up was like any other Karaoke bar. They followed the women wearing the businesses uniform a few hallways down to an empty room. You could hear random parts of songs mush together.

Hazuki, Choji, Shikamaru, Ino and Sai were the last in the hallway when someone called out to Shikamaru. It interrupting another bicker he was having with Hazuki over the latest shogi game they had. He turned to the voice and his face drained of all its color, his usual smirk was replaced with a look of wanting the floor to open up and sallow him. Hazuki never saw him look like this before. She followed his eye and saw a group of kids their age. They were wearing street clothes instead of uniforms like they were. The other group was heading into the room right next to theirs. A few headed into the room leaving the last three out the hallway. The guy who spoke was cute with short spiky brown hair and dark eyes. Behind him stood a boy a foot or two shorter with short spiky auburn hair and pale blue green eyes. They were outlined in dark rings and Hazuki couldn't decide if it was makeup or if his eyes were just like that. She then noticed the kanji for love was written on the left side of his forehead. So she made her mind up that the dark outline was makeup. On the other side of the boy stood a girl with blonde hair gathered into four ponytails arranged at the back of her head. Her eyes were teal. She was pretty besides for the dirty look she was making way to obvious was for Shikamaru. It was as if she would be able to make him burst into flames with her eyes alone. Shikamaru stiffened his back and tour his eyes away from the blonde girl. He turned to answer the one who called to him.

"Hey Kankuro, How have you been," you could hear how uncomfortable he was in his voice.

"I've been good. We're trying to blow off some steam before exams. How have you been doing, it's been awhile," he looked at Hazuki noticing her for the first time. "Who's your friend I haven't seen her before," he raised his eyebrows at Shikamaru.

Hazuki felt Temari eyes pierce right threw her. It was like a sharp freezing shocked ran down her spine. _What the hell is going on? Is this the ex-girlfriend? _She thought as Shikamaru's uncomfortableness seemed to seep threw him, into the floor and right into her.

"I've been good; we're actually doing the same thing. The whole gang is here, and this is Hazuki; she transferred here the beginning of the semester," he turned to her "This is Kankuro, his brother Gaara and his sister Temari."

The hellos were awkward and that was putting it lightly. Ino trying to save this awkwardness chimed in that everyone was waiting on them. She pushed Sai threw the doorway and then grabbed Hazuki's arm. Shikamaru took the opportunity to say goodbye and see you around.

The room they were giving was large, well lit with a light peach color on the walls. Through the doorway you were standing on a "stage" like floor. Next to the door was a large TV, Karaoke equipment and a phone. There was a step down to where there was seating that lined the walls. There was a table in the middle. It reminded Hazuki of a sectional cough in a living room. Everyone took a seat and got settled in. They then ordered drinks and snacks with the phone on the wall while Lee started going through the music. As they waited to start Hazuki was finally feeling normal again and she noticed that Shikamaru's mood had changed dramatically. She leaned over to Choji and quietly asked what just happened.

"That was his ex," he gave her a look that said to leave it be for now. So she did.

Lee's voice made everyone look towards him. "I've got it. The theme tonight is going to be the 80's in America. Now prepare to be amazed," he pressed the play button on the remote, grabbed the microphone off the table and jumped center stage.

As the music started up Hazuki knew it sound familiar but couldn't put her figure on it. Her cousin was a huge 80's fan so it was random for Hazuki not to know it. When the words came up on the screen and she read the first few lines she realized it was _Wake Me Up Before You GO, GO by Wham!._ Lee's horrible attempt at singing wasn't bad enough. He was flaying his arms back and forth and moving his legs in random directions as he danced and sang to the chorus. Everyone was laughing and having a good time besides for Shikamaru. He looked miserable and sad. Kind of the way he looked the night at Hinata's. When Lee's song was over their drinks and snacks arrived. Shikamaru could just make out Kankuro's voice singing _Mr. Roboto by Styx._ _Apparently he had the same idea as Lee go figure._ He thought as he took a sip of his drink.

There was a little bickering as to who would go next and Sakura and Ino won out. Their song was _Heaven is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle _and they did it justice. After the girls Naruto went. His song was _She Drives Me Crazy by Fine Young Cannibals_. He was all over the place and even bobbed his head back and forth with every Uh uh. Again the room was filled with laughter. The night was turning out to be fun and definitely needed. Choji did _867-5309 by Tommy Tutone_ and it was very well done. He surprised everyone with how good he could sing. Choji was followed by Reika's version of _Mickey by Toni Basil. _She had a dance with hand motions to go with the words and faces that were the best. Everyone was still laughing as Lee and Naruto started _Dancing in the Streets by David Bowie and Mick Jagger. _It was the best thing of the night, even though they murdered most of the words it took a while for everyone to settle down. Shikamaru even cracked a smile. Sakura killed _Pat Benatar's Love is a Battlefield. _Ino thenfollowed with _Madonna's Like a Prayer. _As Reika was pulling Kiba up to do a song together, you could just make out the words of _Safety Dance by Men Without Hats._ It was a guy he was really getting into and sounded pretty good.

"Is that Gaara," Naruto looked at Shikamaru as he spoke.

After a minute of listening Shikamaru nodded yes and everyone started to laugh besides Hazuki. She looked around at everyone confused when Shikamaru explained.

"Gaara was the short boy Kankuro's brother. The other kids from before. It's funny because if you knew him you wouldn't expect him to pick that song," he grabbed his drink off the table and took a sip.

When everyone settled down Reika started singing _Walk Like an Egyptian by the Bangles._ Kiba was not amused by this and only sang the wayoh wayoh and walk like an Egyptian parts. His face was emotionless and he didn't move until Reika kicked him. He then put a big goofy grin on his face as he started over doing the dance. After a little bit you could tell he was starting to enjoy himself. Sakura managed to get Sasuke up for _Close My Eyes Forever by Linda Fond and Ozzy._ They were good but Sasuke was uncomfortable the entire time and while Sakura was all over the place and really into it Sasuke just stood in one spot and started at the back wall. Right as Ino and Sai were about to start their duet of _Stop Dragging My Heart Around by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty S_hikamaru's face lost color again. He heard Temari's voice as clear as day almost screaming _Goodbye to You by Scandal_. He couldn't take it anymore. He got up and walked out of the room. Hazuki looked at Choji and he mouthed it was fine. After Ino and Sai finished their song, Ino and Sakura convinced Naruto and Hinata to go next. Hinata was resistant at first but once Naruto smiled at her and said it would be fun, she shyly nodded her flushed face. Ino picked _The Time of My Life by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes_. You could barely hear Hinata but she tired her best to get the words out and not faint. By the end of the song she was so dry she drank half of her drink in one gulp. After enjoying himself with The Bangles Kiba decided to do _Duran Duran's Hungry Like a Wolf._ After he was done rolling around on the floor Choji suggested that they should head out and find Shikamaru.

"But Hazuki hasn't had a turn," Reika looked truly upset as she motioned towards her friend.

"It's fine really. It's getting late and there's always next time," Hazuki reassured her. They all gathered their things and started out the door.

They found Shikamaru outside with Temari. They were yelling at each other about something. No matter how much Hazuki bickered with him she never saw him this mad and upset. As soon as the two noticed the group approaching they stopped. Temari crossed her arms over her chest, gave Hazuki another dirty look like before and then stormed back into the building.

"Are you okay," Choji handed Shikamaru his forest green hoodie.

As he slipped it over his head he muttered a yeah. Everyone was quite on the train ride home. The only good thing out of the end of the night was Hazuki caught a glimpse of Kiba nonchalantly holding Reika's hand. She made a mental note to ask her how that came about tomorrow. At certain stops some got off to either walk the rest of the way home or grab another train. The only ones left for the last stop was Hazuki, Choji, Ino and Shikamaru. When they got to their usual split up point Shikamaru turned to his house without saying a word, Ino shrugged her shoulders and said good night to the others. After Ino and Shikamaru were both in their house Choji turned to Hazuki.

"I'll walk you home so I can explain what happened tonight," he put his arm out in a gestured for Hazuki to lead the way.

It's not that Choji was one to tell his friends business however, with the way Temari was towards Hazuki and she would never get anything out of Shikamaru, it was up to him to just shed a little bit of light on it. Temari, Kankuro and Gaara were all siblings from another school a few hours away called Sunagakure. Temari was his ex and they dating for the last two years. It was getting pretty serious but there were a lot of problems over the last few months. It was mostly due to the distant between them; the fact that Shikamaru was the only one doing the traveling and Temari didn't seem to really be into him anymore.

"He won't admit it but he really did care for her, and he has been better you've seen that. But seeing her didn't help it. He's like back in the mood he was when we were all at Hinata's," he was quite for a minute. "I bet they were fighting before because Temari is jumping to conclusions that you're the real reason he broke it off. With everything she would never admit if she did something wrong. It was always him and she always over reacted," he shook his head.

"But why me? We were fighting when she showed up," Hazuki looked up at Choji.

"It really doesn't matter she doesn't know you and you were there with him. You're a girl, wouldn't you think the same thing."

She thought about it for a minute. She probably would if it was her, but she never experienced a break up so she wasn't sure. She told Choji that and by that time they reached Hazuki's door. They stood at the gate for a few minutes. They both were lost in thought over the situation. Hazuki felt Choji's eyes on her so she looked up at him. For a minute she thought he was going to kiss her and she started to panic. _Oh my god what is he doing. _She didn't know what to do. After a few moments it passed and he just smiled at her as he said goodnight. She exhaled the breath she didn't realize she was holding. _What just happened? I had to image that or I really think everyone is losing their minds. Me included._ She thought as she headed inside.

The next day Hazuki texted Reika to ask how the handholding came about with Kiba, her reply was a way too excited phone call. It turned out they were just standing there and he grabbed her hand. He walked her home and held it all the way. Then at her door he asked her to be "his girl" and as he kissed her on the cheek, her father came flying from the house like a madman. He was wearing only his robe and had a frying pan in his hand swinging it wildly in the air.

"He was yelling something about keeping his mutt hands off his daughter," both girls laughed. Reika at the memory and Hazuki at the mental image, "Which reminds me I need to text him and apologize for my dad. I just hope he didn't scare him away. He's finally my boyfriend."

Hazuki reassured her friend it would be fine and they said their goodbyes. Hazuki then started a text to Choji to see how Shikamaru was doing. After she sent the text she plopped onto her bed and replayed the night before. It was a few hours later when Choji responded to her message. She pushed her math notebook aside and reached for her phone.

Choji: He was avoiding me all day I just saw him and there's no difference. Just like that one night.

Hazuki: That's not good mayb he will b more himself 2morrow.

Choji: Ya I hope so.

They responded back and forth until her grandmother yelled for her to set the table. After dinner Hazuki pulled out her father's old shogi set. She needed a break from homework. It was a nice night so she set it up out on the back porch. The sun already set so she lit the hanging lanterns that hung from the roof over the porch. There weren't as many as at Hinata's house so the back yard was pretty dark. She set the table and board up and sat facing the lake. The sounds of the evening were soothing and soon Mameha joined Hazuki out on the back porch. They didn't say a word to each other. Mameha just enjoyed the company of her granddaughter while Hazuki played her game of shogi. When it was around ten Mameha kissed Hazuki on the top of her head, told her goodnight and headed to bed. As soon as Hazuki was finished with her game she also headed inside and to bed.

The next few days were quite while exams took place. Shikamaru hardly said a word on the way home to or from school. Ino and Choji tried everything they could think of to try and cheer him up. Nothing worked. By the time they reached the split up point the two would give up. They would try to say goodbye to him but it was pointless. He would storm away without saying a word.

The Saturday after exams were over Hazuki was woken up by her cell phone playing the intro to _DIIV's Doused _from her nightstand. She must have forgotten to put in on vibrate after she was done talking to Ino the night before. She fumbled for a few minutes trying to find it with her eyes close when defeated she opened one eye and grabbed her phone.

"Hello," she mumbled as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Hey did I wake you," Reika sounded way too happy for, Hazuki took her phone from her ear to look at the time, a little past nine in the morning.

"Do you know what time it is," Hazuki stretched as tired to wake up.

"Yes and I need you to get up and get ready. A few of the guys are going to Naruto's for the day and Kiba asked me to come. I don't want to go alone so you're going to come with us," before Hazuki could get out a word Reika said four words, "There is a beach."

"What time are we going, I just need to eat something and shower," Hazuki sat up in bed and started for the bathroom.

Reika told Hazuki to take the bus and they would meet her at Reika's stop at around noon. Hazuki said goodbye and started up the shower while she brushed her teeth. Hazuki meet up with Reika and Kiba like planed and the three chatted about anything but the exams. Kiba tried one last time for good measure about the track team but both girls gave him a look and that was the end of it.

They were greeted by Sasuke at Naruto's front door. He was on his way to meet up with Sakura but directed them to the basement where everyone else was. Hazuki was excited by the sound of the ocean and the sight of the bright blue water reaching the skyline behind Naruto's very big and modern house. Kiba lead the way through the living room and kitchen and down the carpeted steeps leading to the basement. The room was the length and width of the house with huge bay windows covering all of the wall besides the one to your left. In the middle of the room but more towards the left side was a huge black entertainment center covered with a big flat screen TV and every gaming system and game you could think of. Making a circle in front of the entertainment center was an array of a couch, loveseat, two beanbag chairs and a table in the middle. Directly behind it was a bar with mirrored shelves covered in all kinds of alcohol covering the wall behind it. There were four bar stools placed in front of the bar. The whole set up was the same black as the entertainment center. More towards the window directly in front of the steps sat a pool table. There was a lot of empty space around the few objects in the room. There was no mistaken it was some form of a man cave.

Naruto was on the floor in front of the TV with a PlayStation controller in his hands totally focused on his game. Kiba and Reika took the loveseat in front of the steps and to the left of Naruto. Next to the loveseat and directly in front of the TV was a couch. Choji was sitting on the middle cushion munching on a bag of chips and Shikamaru was on his right looking miserable like his mood still didn't change. Next to them in one of the two black beanbag chairs sat Shino with another controller in his hand. He was also focused on the game. Hazuki took a seat next to Choji and noticed a familiar smell she just couldn't put her finger on hanging in the air. She looked around trying to find something that would trigger her memory. As she skimmed the top of the coffee table she noticed a big bag of marijuana lying half opened in the middle of an array of empty cans and bags of chips. Right behind Naruto sat a glass pipe. It was black with orange swirl throughout it. In front of Shino sat another glass pipe only sea green in color with black specks placed randomly, the black specks reminded Hazuki of a swarm of bugs. She then looked from face to face of the guys sitting around her.

"You're all high," it was more to herself then to the room, "You've been smoking pot. Really," Hazuki couldn't believe what she was seeing. For the last few months she has been friends with these people and pot was the last thing she expected any of them to do. Well she did question Choji and Shikamaru a little. It's not like she was a drug user, however she was a surfer from Californian it was something that kind of went with the territory.

Her outburst made Shino jump causing him to look away giving Naruto the change to take him out. He was in the middle of his victory dance when he realized what Hazuki said.

"Don't kids in America do it all the time," Naruto stopped dancing and looked at her.

"Well yeah. I'm just surprised that's all," Hazuki replied.

"Have you done it before," Choji threw his empty bag of chips on the table.

"Of course, my older cousin Manami taught me how to surf and exposed me to a lot of things including that. After a day of surfing we would have a bonfire on the beach. We would smoke, some would drink, roast things over the fire to eat, just hang out and stuff," she explained.

Naruto sat back down only facing everyone and grabbed his black and orange bowl. He took a green bud out of the bag, broke it up and packed it into the headpiece. When he was done he handed the bowl and a lighter to Hazuki. It wasn't like it was her first time but she felt a little nervous with the way everyone's eyes were on her. She inhaled the sweet earthy taste and held it in her lungs for a few seconds then exhaled threw her nose. Everyone laughed and joked as she passed it on to Choji. When they killed that bowl Shino packed the next one. As the next bowl made its way around the group, Hazuki was curious about if they would get in trouble. Naruto explained how his parents died when he was a baby and the man who raised him was his godfather. He ran the company that Naruto would inherit when he was eighteen.

"My godfather is cool. He wouldn't care even if he found out," he was matter-of-factly.

"Where is he now," Hazuki just noticed that they were the only ones in the house.

"He's at his publisher. He thinks he's an author but I think all he writes is a waste." He took the bowl being handed to him by Shino and took a quick hit before handing it to Reika.

Kiba helped her light it. It wasn't her first time but she still didn't have the hang of it. As the bowl went around the circle of friends the conversation jumped from subject to subject. Naruto was in mid hit when you could hear footsteps on the stairs and a voice calling out for him. Everyone froze including Naruto. As if something snapped in his head he started grabbing all of the paraphernalia scattered around the table. Hazuki realized all his talk before was just talk. He was like any other kid about to get busted and if he was just a little faster the older man who came down the steeps wouldn't have noticed. He had long spiky white hair tied back into a pony tail with shoulder length bangs framing his face. His eyes were dark with red lines running from them on down his cheeks. There was also a wart on the left side of his nose.

"What have you got there my boy," he asked moving rather fast towards Naruto.

"Nothing Jiraiya we were just playing some video games," Jiraiya wasn't having it and held his hand out to Naruto.

"And you have girls over without an adult home," everyone was holding their breath, "That's my boy! I have taught you well. Now move over and let me show you how it's done," Jiraiya motioned for Naruto to move down and took his spot on the floor.

Everyone's mouths dropped open as they watched the man who was in charge of their friend take the biggest hit any of them had ever seen. Naruto looked like he was having a heart attack because he was still in shock that he wasn't dead. It only took a little bit for everyone to relax and continued on the way they were before only with a new older member.

That feeling like a sixth sense Hazuki always had before an awesome set of wave rushed through her. She looked out the huge window directly to her right a few feet away. Like always that feeling was right, the ocean was showing every sign she was looking for. She knew she only had a few minutes to get out there if it was even possible. She jumped up so fast Shikamaru and Choji jumped.

"Naruto," she always yelled as she started taking off her socks, "Do you have a surf board I can borrow?"

A little taken back he nodded then showed her where one was. It was a black short board with black and orange waves over the front of it. She thanked him and headed to the sliding door next to the bar. In her excitement she didn't realize she stopped in front of the window to strip down to her underwear and black tank top she had under her hoodie and t-shirt. All Hazuki had on her mind was she was happy she wore black and she needed to hurry and get in the water. All of the boys were wide eyed and opened mouth while Jiraiya was practically drooling over the show Hazuki was unknowingly giving. Reika was the one to realize what all of the perverts were doing and broke their silence watching with Kiba's yell of pain. She pinched him as hard as she could in his thigh. She was mad that he was actually watching her friend undress.

"What the hell was that for," he was jumping up and down holding his upper left thigh.

"You were all being perverts. So instead of being jerks lets go outside and watch her surf. I've never seen that look on her face before," the last statement was more to herself then the group.

They all made it outside as Hazuki hit the water and started paddling out. As a small wave would come closer she would use her board and dive under it. Excitement and adrenaline rushed threw her body as she drew closer to the right spot. Everyone watched as Jiraiya explained what she was doing and why. As she turned her board towards the beach and sat up right, she closed her eyes to get the last bit of information the ocean was willing to give her. All the longing Hazuki held inside for the last few months was going to be rewarded. She opened her eyes and turned her head just in time to see a huge wave coming at her. She leaded down and started paddling as hard as she could as she let instinct take over. Within minutes Hazuki was gliding across a perfect wave. Every stress and problem she had went away in the moment of pure euphoria. The group on the beach was speechless at the way their friend seemed to be move perfectly with the wave. It was as if she controlled the ocean herself. When the moment was over and she was starter to head to shore Shikamaru tapped on Choji's shoulder and handed him a towel.

"She'll need this," Shikamaru nodded in Hazuki's direction.

Choji nodded as he took the towel and headed to where everyone else was greeting her. He thought it odd of his friend to do something like that and dread filled his stomach when the thought crosses his mind that Shikamaru knew his secret. It wasn't that he didn't want his best friend to know, he himself was still trying to come to terms that he had a crush on his newest friend. He was also scared that she would never like-like someone like him. However, the smile she gave him when he handed her the towel almost made him want to confess right then. He didn't instead he returned her smiled then turned to see Shikamaru shaking his head as he walked back into the house.

Hazuki apologized to how she acted only to be interrupted by Jiraiya telling her it was the call of the ocean and it couldn't be helped. He also enjoyed the show she unknowing gave and snickered to himself. It was going to be a perfect scene for his latest book. Back in the house Shikamaru was back in his spot on the couch. He turned around to face them when they entered. Everyone was excited and talking about how Hazuki rode the wave. Jiraiya was about to show her the bathroom when Shikamaru spoke.

"You did a nice little strip tease for everyone. I didn't know you were that kind of girl. We could have had some _real_ fun at our Shogi games if I knew this," he smirked.

What he said was bad enough but it was how he said it that struck a nerve. He was so cocky about it and his voice was dripping with venom. He meant for his words to insult and hurt and they did. She looked at him confused and hurt then answered with a lot of attitude, "What are you talking about," she couldn't believe what just came out of his mouth.

He nodded to the window looking out to the ocean, and Hazuki's stomach dropped when she realized what she did in front of all of these guys. _Oh my god….please let me die _she thought as she tried to stop her entire face from turning red. She tried to think of something smart to come back with but she was drawing a blank. The embarrassment and anger she was feeling stopped her brain from working.

"I was in a hurry. You shouldn't have been looking anyway asshole," she managed as she rushed up the steeps after Jiraiya.

_What the hell is his problem?! He really needs to get out of this mood. I understand he's hurting but I didn't do a fucking thing to him. There's no reason for him to take this out on me. Errrrr. _Hazuki thought as she gave Jiraiya her wet clothes. He gave her a robe to wear until her things were dry. She was still annoyed, sitting at the kitchen table waiting on her clothes, when Choji came up the steps.

"I know this mood of his is getting old but you did kind of walk into that one. However he was wrong and I did tell him to apologies," he was trying not to laugh as pulled out the chair next to her and sat down.

She playfully hit his arm, "Not funny I didn't realize it. Did everyone really watch?"

Choji's face started to turn red as he looked away, "Well…hum…."

"You watched too," she punched him in the arm this time; "You're a jerk."

He laughed again as he rubbed his arm saying it couldn't be helped and he was sorry. Just then the dryer dinged that her stuff was dry.

"Hurry up and get dressed everyone is waiting downstairs," he pushed his chair in and continued to rub his arm and laugh down to the basement.

The rest of the time at Naruto's house was fine. Shikamaru went back to not really speaking. At around nine everyone piled into Jiraiya's car to head home because they missed the bus. By the time they reached Hazuki's, Choji's and Shikamaru's house it was getting late. They all thanked him for having them over and for the ride home. They all said there goodnights to each other and started towards their houses. Hazuki didn't get far when Shikamaru grabbed her arm and asked her to stop. She turned around to face him and noticed that Choji just closed his door.

"I'm sorry about before. I went a little too far," he wouldn't look directly at her and after a minute he turned to walk away.

"It's okay, just don't do it again," she yelled after him.

He made a humph noise and waved goodbye to her without turning around. Hazuki wanted to yell more and throw something at the back of his head. _What kind of apologizes was that! _She thought as she turned and headed home.

Over the next few days Jiraiya invited them all back to stay for a few days to have a little getaway over the summer vacation. Plans were made for the boys to go for about two weeks; the girls would join the second week and stay for about a week. They would all be together for the River Firework Festival, which ended the summer. The only two who weren't going to make it was Raidenbecause he was out of the country with his family and Takaya because he was in a lot of trouble due to his grades. He wasn't allowed to do anything but study all break. Tenten, Neji, Shino and his girlfriend were going to come a day or so before the festival, they all had random things to do before then. Hazuki couldn't wait. A whole week on the beach and in the ocean she was almost beside herself. She just hoped that Shikamaru would be out of his mood because she wasn't dealing with it.


	4. Chapter 4

Hazuki woke up about ten. She had a text from Choji with a picture of all the boys making funny faces sitting on the beach. Her response was jerk and a smiley with the tongue sticking out. She climbed out of bed and headed to the kitchen. She was greeted by her grandmother with a plate of pancakes and fresh strawberries.

"Are you excited about your vacation," Mameha asked.

"Yes. The whole week is going to be spent surfing," Hazuki answered in between bites of fluffy sweet pancakes.

"And you're sure Naruto's guardian is going to be there the whole time?"

"Yes he will, the entire week. Plus the girls are sleeping upstairs in the guest bedroom and the boys are in the basement. So you don't have to worry about anything."

Just then there was a knock on the door. Hazuki got up to answer it. Standing in the door way was Reika, Ino, Sakura and Hinata.

"Get dressed we're going shopping," Reika announced as Hazuki moved out of the way to let the others enter.

Hazuki ran down to her room to throw on clothes, brush her hair and teeth. While she was gone her friends joined Mameha at the table. It didn't take Hazuki long and by the time she was back her friends had helped her grandmother clean up the breakfast mess. They said goodbye to Mameha and they were off.

"We need to get Hinata in a cute bikini for Naruto," Ino nudged Hinata as they entered a clothing store with bathing suits displayed in the front window.

Hinata's face turned bright red. "Hmmm… I don't think I would look right…I mean there's no reason for to show that much skin," Hinata murmured trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Don't be silly. You'll look amazing all the guys will be drooling," Sakura answered and everyone giggled as Hinata turned a darker shade of red.

They all tried on about a dozen bathing suits each. Ino and Sakura tired their best to get Hinata to buy a cute orange and pink polka dotted two piece but they failed. She ended up with cute but simple orange one piece. Ino decided on a yellow and black striped bikini. The top tied around the neck and back and on both sides of the bottoms. Sakura chose a similar one only is was a red apple color. Reika fell in love with a pink red and white striped two piece, and Hazuki found a bikini with a blue bottom with an orange hiccups flower on the right side that matched the orange top covered with the same blue flowers. Sakura also grabbed a white sun hat with a red bow that matched her bathing suit. She held out the hat and posed with it like she was Vanna White from Wheel of Fortune.

After they went to a few more stores to get other things that were needed they decided to grab something to eat. They headed towards a new barbecue that opened up when Reika noticed Mr. Hagane and Mr. Kamizuki, the two secretaries from school, accompanied by two beautiful women. Mr. Hagane had his arm draped around the shoulders of women with long dark hair pulled into the ponytail at the back of her head and hazel eyes. Mr. Kamizuki was holding hands with the other. She had wavy light lavender colored hair and eyes that were purple outlined with a dark blue. She also had a beauty mark on her left cheek. Reika almost squealed as she pointed them out to the others.

"Oh my god their so pretty," Reika watched as the group walked across the street.

"How the hell did those two pick up women who look like that? I thought they were "together" you know," Ino couldn't believe her eyes.

"Can we stop being creepy stalkers and go get some food," Hazuki started walking down the street. She was starving and could careless who was dating who. Rika and Ino couldn't stop talking about the secretaries and their female companions the entire walk to the restaurant.

The barbecue was packed. They had to wait about twenty minutes to get a table but the wait was well worth it. Hazuki made sure to take a picture of the table set with food and the girls making funny faces to send to Choji. It was pay back for the beach one he sent this morning. On their way out they bummed into someone Hazuki was hoping to never see again. Temari, her two brothers and two other girls were walking in as they were walking out. Hazuki's stomach dropped when she made eye contact with Shikamaru's ex-girlfriend. Temari shot her daggers as her brothers greeted the girls. Kankuro literary pushed his sister past Hazuki once he saw the look on her face. He didn't want her to cause a scene with the poor girl. He gave Hazuki an apologetic look as he past her. _Really she_ _still has a problem with me. _Hazuki thought as they headed to the bus stop.

Hazuki opened her front door and her grandmother yelled for her to hurry up. Her cousin Manami was on the phone. Hazuki almost tackled her grandmother for the phone. Hearing Manami's voice was the best thing in the world. She headed to her room as Manami told her to good news about her mother being pregnant.

"Yeah it was a surprise to everyone even for her. She said she was done after Mari," Manami laughed. "Who by the way will not stop asking when you'll be home but anyway how are you?"

"Tell her I miss her and see her soon. I'm good." Hazuki missed her five year old cousin who always had to tail the two older girls around.

"I will but no Zee you know what I mean. How are you with Arashi?"

Hazuki's stomach dropped and tears threaten to fall as soon as she spoke his name. "I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine."

"I am can we talk about something else. I've missed you and there's a lot to tell you."

Manami knew when she wasn't going to get anything out of her cousin and best friend so she didn't push it.

The girls chatted about random things. Hazuki told Manami about her first day of school, how Choji gave her a bag of chips and her first impression of Shikamaru or Pineapple Head. Manami was the only person who knew her nickname for him and she found it amusing. Hazuki explained how they were now kind of friends and everything that was going on with his ex. So as of late he was being a bigger dick then when she first met him. Manami's response was her normal "take the bitch outside and kick the shit out of her" that made them both laugh again. Hazuki told her about the Karaoke bar and the day at Naruto's.

"You seriously stripped in front of a bunch of guys!" Manami was laughing so hard Hazuki knew her eyes were watering.

"Yes so shut up. I didn't know I was doing it. I would do it again if I knew I would get another wave like that." Hazuki decided not to tell her cousin everything Shikamaru said because she was afraid her cousin would hop on the first plane to Japan just to punch him in the face.

Hazuki explained how Reika reminded her Manami. Manami's response was that she better not be getting replaced.

"You could never be replaced. It's just nice to have someone who is like you," they both laughed.

"Oh Zee you know you can never find anyone like me. I'm a one of a kind. But you've been talking a lot about this Choji. What's the deal is he your new crush?"

"No, no we're just really close. He's a really good sweet guy. I wouldn't want to ruin anything between us. I value his friendship too much."

"Well if that's the case I think I might just have to swoop in and grab him up. You better lock that shit down for me."

Hazuki laughed. "Not on your life. I know how you are with guys you heartbreaker. You're not allowed anywhere near him."

Manami laughed and told her cousin to just wait and see.

"Oh before I forget. I was trying for this summer but since we found out about the baby my dad is being all paranoid about money, but I'm working on him to let me do my senior year in Japan. I think I can get him to do it. How cool would it be for us to graduate together like we planned, and now that I have Choji to look forward to I'm definitely coming," Manami sounded really excited.

"That sounds awesome. I don't see why you couldn't stay here. It's only the two of us and the house is huge. Only I already said you're not allowed near him."

"Ah come on Zee your no fun, but on that note I'm getting yelled at to get off the phone. My stupid dad with all his money worries," They both laughed. "I'll talk to you soon. Love you coz."

"Love you, talk to you soon."

"Later."

Hazuki hung up the phone and took it back out to the kitchen to the base. She was excited at the thought of Manami coming to Japan to finish school, and she imaged all the things that they could do.

The night before the girls were heading to Naruto's Hazuki packed and waxed her board. She ran her fingers over the interknit design her cousin painted towards the top of the deck. She couldn't wait to get out in the water with it. _Only a few more hours. _She thought as she carefully placed it next to her dresser in its usual spot. She then headed out to the living room to spend some time with her grandmother.

The next morning Hazuki was up early and showered. She double checked to make sure she had everything. She had a few hours to kill before Rika's father would be there to pick her and Ino up. She ate breakfast with her grandmother and helped her in the small flower garden outback. After she washed the dirt from her hands and got changed she checked surfline to see what the waves would be like for the day. They looked pretty good. Just as she was shutting down her laptop her phone went off.

Choji: What time r u guys coming. Naruto said the waves should b pretty good soon.

Hazuki: I know I just checked lol. Soon I hope. I'm getting antsy. How's Shika's mood?

Choji: Don't worry he's back to himself. See u soon.

Hazuki: Ok see you soon.

About an hour later Reika called to say they were leaving in a few. Hazuki hung up and moved her bag and board out by the front door. A few minutes later Ino showed up with three huge bags in tow.

"We're only going for a little over a week. Why do you need three bags?"

"The better question is why do you only have one?" Ino looked at Hazuki's black duffle bag on the floor next to hers.

"Because we're only going for over a week and all I really need is a bathing suit and my board."

"From what I heard the bathing suit is just a formality," Ino teased.

"Yeah, yeah but really three."

"Yes three. I have to make sure I have everything I'll need. This is the only vacation I'm getting so I'm making sure I look good at every moment," they both laughed as Ino posed like a model.

It wasn't much longer until Reika's fathers black Toyota Landcruiser Prado beeped out front. Hazuki kissed her grandmother goodbye and promised to call at least once a day. Hazuki and Ino were the last to be picked up so it took a little bit for Mr. Hankoto stuff Ino's three bags into the back with the rest of the bags.

Jiraiya greeted them at the door. He stood talking with Mr. Hanko about the sleeping arrangements and answering the other million questions the over protective father had. He took Hazuki's board from her while the girls dropped their bags off in the guest room they were staying in. Like the rest of the house the room was big and modern looking. The walls were the same light tan as the rest of the house and the wall across from the door was filled with huge bay windows like in the basement. The room was in the back of the house so the windows revealed the clear blue ocean and soft tan sand below. You could see the boys lounging and running around in the water enjoying themselves. The view was amazing even with the boys littering the beach. There was a huge bed in the middle of the windows with two nightstands on both sides. On the right side of the room there was a closet the length of the wall. It was any girls dream closet. On the left side of the room was a long bookshelf covered with books and random things. Next to the bookshelf cattycornered was a big comfy looking blue chair. On the left side of the door was a long dresser and on the right was another blue chair. There were bedrolls next to the chair along with blankets and pillows. The room reminded Hazuki of a deluxe hotel room. She was half expecting to find mints on the pillows.

The girls found places for their bags and changed into their bathing suits. They hurried down the steps with towels, suntan lotions and other beach things in their arms. In between more questions from Mr. Hanko Jiraiya told Hazuki were he placed her board and she grabbed it on the way out. They followed the sandy path along the cliff that supported the house and down to the beach below.

Choji and Shikamaru were on a beach blanket with a huge blue and white beach umbrella pushed in the sand for shade. Choji was sitting up snacking on a bag of chips when he turned and waved when he saw the girls. Shikamaru was laying on his back with his arms supporting his head and his eyes closed, but he turned on his side propping himself up with his elbow when the girls showed up. All of the boys were in swimming shorts. Choji was wearing a pair of red with a light red polka dot pattern and pull tie band around the waist. Shikamaru's were a dark green and black with a black band. Sai and Lee were attempting to build a sandcastle a few feet away from the umbrella. Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Kiba's fluffy white Great Pyrenees named Akamaru, were playing with a Frisbee half in in the water and half on the sand. Naruto's shorts were black with orange with rectangle going down both sides. Sasuke were maroon at the top then a bright red at the bottom. Kiba's shorts were black with a red pull tie. The normal kind of swimwear you would except to see guys wearing. However, the girls took a double take when they saw Sai and Lee. Hazuki felt sorry for Ino because of the look of utter dread on her face when she saw her boyfriend's choice in swimwear. Sai was wearing a tight black speedo that were shaped little more like boy shorts, not that it made it any better. Lee was in another speedo only his was green and shorter. Neither boy looked bad because they both had a nice muscle tone but they were still wearing speedos.

Akamaru was the first one to notice the girls and he barked as he came running towards them, his tail wagging like crazy. It looked like it would fall off by the time he reached them. He jumped on Reika almost knocking her over. He licked her face as she laughed and tried to push him down. Once he was satisfied seeing her he went around and waited for a rub on the others. That was his way of saying hello. He then barked at them as if to say follow me and took off back to the boys. Reika, Sakura and Hinata laid out there towels on the warm sand and sat down. Ino headed over to Sai to find out why he was wearing what he was. Hazuki dropped her towel next to Reika and ran for the water. Reika watched her greet the boys by the water as she ran into the waves. Reika was excited to see her friend surf again. She was still amazed every time she thought about the first time she witnessed Hazuki surf. Choji was also watching her but he was trying to make it seem nonchalant. Shikamaru was the only one who noticed. Naruto ran over to his board sticking out of the sand a little ways from the water and went to join Hazuki. She was sitting on her board patiently waiting for a wave. Her hair was slicked back from the water and she had a look of complete contentment on her face. It was like if she was told she had to stay right there for the rest of her life she would be fine with it.

The other boys joined the girls by the umbrella. Sasuke sat next to Sakura and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Kiba plopped down next to Reika gave her a quick kiss on the lips and said hi. Her cheeks turned bright red as gave him a small hello. She was still getting use to the fact that Kiba was her boyfriend. It felt like she waited so long for it, it still didn't seem real, but then he would do little things like that and she knew she wasn't still imaging it. Akamaru laid his head in her lap. She rubbed the top of his head as the group watched their two friends bobbing in the waves. They were too far out to hear but you could see them chatting and every once in a while one of them glancing behind them. The group on the beach chatted about what the boys had been up to the past week. Reika told them about seeing Mr. Hagane and Mr. Kamizuki and that started a whole other conversation. Kiba even commented like Ino how he thought they were "together".

A few minutes later Reika noticed Hazuki going for a wave. She got the other attention and they watched her glide through the water. The wave wasn't as big as the first Reika saw her ride but it was still amazing to watch. It made her kind of want to try it. The next wave Naruto took. He was good but he didn't have the gracefulness Hazuki seemed to have. The rest of the day was spent lounging on the beach and playing in the water. There was a lot of joking and laughing. When the sun was starting to set they made their way up to the house. Jiraiya had takeout waiting for them. They all ate then took turns taking showers in the two big bathrooms to wash off sand and salt. Then the rest of the night was spent goofing around, playing pool, video games and watching movies.

The next few days were about the same. Days spent at the beach and nights in the basement hanging out. The kitchen and living room was like one room but divided by an island with five chairs facing the living room. That's where everyone was when one night when Jiraiya announced he had to head out for some business and they would be left with the house to themselves.

"Behave yourselves," Jiraiya gave a creepy perverted smile as he slowly slid out of the door and closed it behind him.

"There is really something wrong with him," Naruto shook his head looked down at his cup of instant ramen.

"It could be worse you could have my crazy mom. She would never leave the house with this many of us here. I don't even think she would let a girl stay at my house," Kiba put a bowl of dog food on the floor for Akamaru.

"Well since we have the house to ourselves why don't we have a bonfire like Hazuki use to. What would you guys do," Reika asked turning towards her friend sitting on the end of the white couch playing a Nintendo DS.

Hazuki paused the Zelda game she was playing and looked up. "Huh?"

"The bonfires you use to have in the states. What would you guys do," Reika asked again.

"Oh that we would smoke, drink, roast things on the fire. Just hang out and have a good time."

"I think that would be fun. What kind of food do you have that we can roast," Sakura asked Naruto.

They found some hotdogs and marshmallows and grabbed a few six packs of beer and plum wine from the basement. They all grabbed hoodies or sweaters and headed back down to the beach. There was a spot right under the house were the rocks formed a perfect spot for a bonfire. It was like the rocks formed to make a little hideaway for them. The sun was almost gone but there was still a little bit of light as the group looked around for drift wood. Sakura and Ino found random logs and things for everyone to sit on. Before long Sasuke and Shikamaru dug a nice size hole in the sand and had a fire going. Everyone gathered around with drinks and something to roast on the fire.

The group formed a circle around the now bright blazing flames. Naruto sat down first and Sakura made sure to put Hinata in between Reika and Naruto. She blushed as she sat down and he handed her a stick to put a marshmallow on. Sasuke sat on Naruto's left side and Sakura was next to him. It was then Ino, Sai, Lee, Choji, Hazuki, Shikamaru Kiba and then back to Reika. Akamaru found a comfy spot in front of Kiba and Reika's legs and curled up.

The fire was warm and lit up everyone's face with a soft yellow glow. The group laughed, told stories and joked around as they were starting to feel the effects of the alcohol. Before too long they ran out of beer and Naruto and Kiba started fighting over who should go get more.

"I'll go grab it I have to go to the bathroom anyway," Hazuki announced she felt like she slurred her words more than she actually did.

She almost fell over when as she stood up but Choji was quick to move. Even with being almost at the same state as Hazuki he was able steady her so she didn't face plant into the sand. She was more intoxicated then she expected or planned to be.

"I'll go with you," Choji offered as he followed close behind her in case she almost fell again.

Shikamaru watched the two until they were out of sight then joined the conversation the others were having.

Choji grabbed the beer while Hazuki went to the bathroom and he waited for her by the door. He handed her one of the three six packs he had in his arms. At the end of the sidewalk and half wall that followed the length of the house and lead to the path Hazuki's sandal broke. It almost caused her to fall again but she caught herself on the wall. She put the beer down and cursed as she looked at her broken shoe.

"How did you manage that," Choji asked putting the beer he was carrying next to Hazuki's and bending down to examining the broken sandal. The strap around her ankle just snapped.

"I don't think there's any fixing it you might as well just take them off and leave them here," he straighten up.

Hazuki slipped her foot out of the broken sandal and lifted her other foot so she could pull it off instead of bending over. She left herself to balance on one foot while she was drunk. That wasn't one of the greatest ideas she ever had. It was a good thing Choji's hands were free because she fell right into him and their lips connected.

Shikamaru was the only one who noticed that Choji and Hazuki were taking a while so he decided to go and see where they were. As he started up the path he saw Choji just standing there with his back to him. Shikamaru went to yell to him but then he noticed Hazuki in his arms their lips locked together. His stomach dropped as he witness the scene. His first reaction was to turn around and go back to the fire but then they broke apart. He couldn't make out what they were saying so he just stood there and watched them for a moment before he made himself known.

It took a minute for Hazuki and Choji to realize what was happening. When it started to register Hazuki pulled away. Choji still had his arms wrapped around her as tried to say how sorry she was. Their faces were both beat red and not because of all the alcohol they had been drinking. They jumped apart when they heard Shikamaru calling for them a few feet down the path. Both Hazuki and Choji silently hoped he didn't see anything because neither of them was really sure what just happened. He headed up the rest of the path to join them.

"What the hell was taking you so long? You two are so troublesome. Hurry up everyone is waiting for more beer," Shikamaru grabbed one of the six packs off the wall then turned and headed back down the path.

"My sandal broke," Hazuki yelled after him as she and Choji grabbed the remaining beer and headed after him.

"Yeah sure," Shikamaru mumbled to himself.

For the rest of the night Choji and Hazuki couldn't look each other in the eyes and Shikamaru couldn't look at either of them. If the others weren't also pretty drunk someone might have noticed the difference with the three, but no one did. Hazuki decided that getting even more intoxicated then she already was would be the best choice of action to forget what happened with Choji. So that's what she did.

The next morning Hazuki woke up on the floor in the basement. Her head was under a pillow and a blanket was thrown over her. She couldn't remember how she got there or most of the night before. As she wiped the sleep from her eyes she just laid there starting at the celling. _Why the hell did I drink so much? _She thought_. _She was afraid once she sat up a massive hangover would take over. She knew she couldn't stay there all day so she slowly propped herself on her elbow and took in the scene around her. Choji was to the right of her a few feet away still sleeping. He was covered with another blanket but no pillow. Reika was on the loveseat looking comfortable snuggled with one of Kiba's legs. The rest of him was on the floor laying in a position that could not have been comfortable. It looked like Reika pushed him off while they were sleeping. Akamaru was sprawled across his chest. That also looked uncomfortable due to his size. Like Choji they were still fast asleep. Lee was sprawled over the two beanbag chairs his head was dangling over the side and he was snoring slightly. Shikamaru was on the couch to her left. Hazuki had to look twice because at first she had no clue who it was. His back was towards her and his hair was down. She thought about it and realized she never saw his hair down. It was always up in its pineapple shape. Ino, Sai, Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata were missing._ I wonder what they were up to. Go Hinata, I definitely want to know what happened there. _She thought smirking to herself as she sat up. Like she was afraid her head started bounding with a headache. Hazuki pressed both hands on her temples and waiting for the pain to become bearable, then got up to find something to take.


	5. Chapter 5

To answer the question from Guest01: Yes there will be a story set in the the Naruto universe. However it is a little ways off for the time being.

The next day was a lazy quite one, due to the fact that everyone was hangover from the previous night. Later that day Hazuki found out that Hinata spent the night in Naruto's room with him. They weren't "doing" anything, unlike the other two missing couples, they spent the early morning hours just talking and hanging out. Then fell asleep together laying in bed. Hinata turned bright red every time she thought about it and still couldn't believe she spent a night in Naruto's bed. However, it seemed to be the best thing for them because they were different towards each other. They were more comfortable around each other and closer in a way. Hazuki was happy watching them sitting close together whenever they could. They deserved to be together and happy and they seemed well on their way to it.

Throughout the day Hazuki remembered random things from the night before. It was while everyone was watching a movie in the basement when she remembered what happened with Choji. She looked over at the boy with the swirl marks on his face in complete horror. _Oh my god what have I done? _She thought. _Maybe he doesn't remember. He's not acting odd and he hasn't said a word about it. Plus it wasn't like I leaned in and kissed him I kind of fell into it. He would have to know that. I mean I do like him but I don't like-like him like that He's my best friend ._She was almost panicked. She really didn't want him to get the wrong idea and she didn't want to lose him as a friend. After a few minutes of terror she was able to claim herself down. She wasn't going to bring it up or stress over it unless he said or did something. That was the only way she could think to handle the situation. How was she supposed to talk to him if she still wasn't sure what had happened herself. She tried to push the thoughts to the back of her mind and focus on the movie that was flashing across the screen.

However, all day Choji was trying to act as normal as possible but it was hard. He didn't know how to take last night. He knew it only happened because she fell but it still happened. He couldn't help but let his mind wonder to what if she might like him like that. He didn't want to get his hopes up but that was almost impossible. Choji didn't know if he should say anything or just act like it didn't happen. _Hazuki hasn't said anything about it. She probably doesn't remember. She was really drunk last night. I almost couldn't get her into the house. And I don't know if Shikamaru saw anything. What should I do? _He contemplated all day. He was having the hardest time when he was sitting next to her on the couch, while everyone watched _Kurozu Zero__ (Crows Zero)_. He really wanted to say something to her but he didn't know how to.

After the movie was over everyone decided to call it an early night. The girls headed up stairs to their room while the boys pulled out their bedrolls. When the girls reached their room they also pulled out their bedrolls, said goodnight and pretty much fell asleep. Just as Hazuki snuggled with her blanket she remembered that Shikamaru might have saw what happened with Choji. _Oh fuck…wait why would I care if he saw us, _she trying going over it in her head as she fell asleep.

It took about two days for Hazuki to claim down over the Choji thing. He wasn't acting any differently and neither was Shikamaru. She wanted to talk to Reika about it but the opportunity never came up. So she decided acting like nothing happened was the best thing to do. For Choji it was still something that was going through his mind, but he wasn't dwelling on it like he was. Rational thinking took over and he knew he couldn't look into. It was an accident. So he decided not to say anything and just wait and see what developed.

Shikamaru however was having a harder time keeping the image in the back of his mind. Every time he looked at either of them he would feel so jealous, even a little angry and he couldn't figure out why. _There is no reason for me to feel this way. Unless I, no that's not it. I'm not even going to let myself think it…this is such a drag. Choji's my best friend. He deserved to have a girl like Hazuki into him. I should be happy for them not feeling like this... And I knew he had a thing for her even if he didn't say it. So why is this such a shock to me?... What the hell is wrong with me?... Fuck this is so troublesome._ He thought every time he remembered Choji's arms wrapped around her waist. Hazuki pulled close to his chest, their eyes closed and lips pressed together. He couldn't let this keep bugging him. He didn't want to take it out them like he did on Hazuki after Karaoke bar. He was just starting to get to close and comfortable with her and that caused Temari to start her drama, just from seeing them together for a few minutes. Later that night she accused him of cheating with Hazuki, that she was the reason he broke up with her. It wasn't anywhere near the truth but because she was the reason of the fight and his mixed feeling about her even then, he took it out on her. Shikamaru couldn't let himself do it again and especially to Choji. Things seemed to be getting more completed than any of them ever expected.

The other day on an impulse buy Jiraiya bought two Seadoo GTX Limited iS 260 jet skis. Hazuki learned that Jiraiya did that a lot. One was black and grey with red accents and the other was white and black with gold. They looked slick and fast. Everyone wanted to try them but it was calling for a bad storm later in the afternoon. However, the midafternoon the sky was clear and there was only a slight breeze. So it was decided they would all take turns and get out on them once before the rain started.

Naruto and Hinata chose the black one while Sasuke and Sakura went on the white. While they were gone the others watched from the shoreline. They were out there for almost a half hour. When they came back the next four went out. Hazuki, Choji, Shikamaru and Lee were the last four. The sky was starting to get dark but it didn't seem threating. Shikamaru took the black Jet Ski from Kiba and Lee jumped on the white one.

"Come on Choji lets show everyone who the best jet skiers are! Go the power of youth," Lee yelled throwing his fist up in the air.

From all the moving he was doing he almost tipped the ski over, causing everyone to laugh. Choji turned to Hazuki to try and get her to go with Lee, she quickly jumped on the back of the black one with Shikamaru and mouthed sorry to him. It wasn't that she didn't like Lee because she did. She could only take him in small douses at times and if she went out on the Jet Ski with him she would probably come back alone. With a look of defeat Choji got on behind Lee and made an unenthusiastic yay.

"Have you ever driven one of these before?" Hazuki asked Shikamaru.

"No but how hard can it be," he smirked over his shoulder at her.

"Maybe I should drive then. The waves are starting to get wild and I've done this before."

He was already a little annoyed because he knew the only reason she got on with him was because Lee was on the other and he wondered if she would have been the same way if Choji was driving. The comment was also a hit to his ego. So his response had a more attitude then he wanted.

"I know what I'm doing. Just hold on."

Hazuki wanted to ask what is problem was but lost her train of thought as he took off on the Jet Ski at full speed. It took a little bit for Lee and Choji to catch up.

The sky was getting darker, the waves were growing angrier and Shikamaru's crazed driving wasn't helping. This fun trip on the Jet Ski was turning bad every second. _I should have gone with Lee._ She thought as a wave almost tipped them over. Hazuki was trying to get Shikamaru to slow down and tell him to head back to shore but he wouldn't listen. It was as if he was a bloodhound on a tail and nothing could stop him until he got to his prize. She couldn't figure out why he was so angry at her. Then the sky opened and let lose a downpour. The rain was cold and stung as it hit Hazuki's shoulders and face. She looked around and couldn't see Choji and Lee. However, that wasn't the worst of their problems. At second glace she couldn't see the beach anymore. She franticly looked around. All around them was harsh waves and rain.

"Shikamaru!" She yelled as a huge wave came on them. This time it did tip them over.

It was the same feeling when you wipeout on a board only this was more violent. The waves thrashing you this way and that, you can't tell which way is up and your lungs are threating to burst if they don't receive oxygen soon. This wasn't anything new to Hazuki so she relaxed herself and went with the wave. When it finally released her she made her way up to the surface. She took three huge breathes before the next wave crashed into her. The next time the ocean allowed her to breath she looked around for Shikamaru and the Jet Ski. She started to panic when she couldn't find either of them. She yelled Shikamaru's name and she looked around for him above and below the water.

Just went she thought he was lost she saw the green of his shorts out of the corner of her eye. She took a deep breath and dove towards the color. A few feet away from her Shikamaru's lip body was starting to sink. She swam hard against the angry ocean and grabbed under both his arms then haled him up to the surface. His eyes were closed and she couldn't tell if he was breathing. She tried to wake him up but nothing work. So she just held onto him as the waves threw them around like rag dolls. _Oh my god we're going to die out here. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. _She thought as she made her way up to the surface once again. When she was about to give up she saw a dark object closing in on them. The closer it came to them she more she realized they were moving towards it and it was a huge rock mountain.

"Thank you Ocean Gods," she yelled as a bust of energy pulsed threw her body. She wrapped her left arm across Shikamaru's chest and swap for the rocky savor.

At first she just wanted to make it to the rock climb onto of it and hold on until the storm was over. However, the closer she got to it the more climbing it was going to be a problem. It was just too big to try to get to the top even, without the ocean trying to pull you back down.

When they finally reached the mountain Hazuki tried to get a grip on it, but it was useless. The rock was just too slippery. She knew she needed to get somewhere fast because if Shikamaru's lungs were filled with water he wasn't going to make it much longer. She made her way around the rock trying to find a ledge or anything to help them out. She was started to get exhausted and panic as she kept looking for something to hold onto. Their rocky savor was turning out to be a sick joke. She cried out in frustration and cursed the ocean gods when she saw what could be a ledge a little down from where they were. She tried not to get her hopes up but it was hard not to. As she made her way towards it she saw that the ledge wasn't just a ledge but an opening into a chasm. She almost didn't believe it. With the last of her strength and the help of a wave she was able to push Shikamaru threw the dark opening. Hazuki almost couldn't get herself in but with the help of another wave she made it.

Hazuki laid flat on her stomach on the damp, cold, rocky floor. The cave like room was about the size of a full sized bed only in an award circle shape and it was about five feet high. She had never felt so drained in her life and all she wanted to do was lay there. However, she couldn't rest yet. She turned Shikamaru onto his back to see if he was breathing. He wasn't and his lips were starting to turn blue. She couldn't tell if it was from lack of air or just being in the cold water. Neither was a good thing. Hazuki wouldn't let herself freak out yet because she wouldn't be any use to him. So she just positioned his head and started CPR. At that moment she was so happy her aunt made Manami and her take classes each year. Hazuki was starting to think she was too late and dread was starting to take over._ No I can't lose him like this!_ Her mind raced. Then he started to couch and she rolled him onto his side as he spit out water that was making its home in his lungs. It was the greatest sound she very heard. It was like music to her ears.

"I thought you were dead," she cried as she wrapped her arms around him relived. In the next moment she pulled away and punched him as hard as she could in his arm, "You ass hole! If you weren't driving like a madman I wouldn't have had to think you were dead."

Shikamaru couched up a little more water as he rubbed him arm, "What happened? Where are we?"

He looked around the dark cave they were. You could see the ocean and rain was still fighting outside.

"We got caught in the storm and tipped over, because you wouldn't listen to me when I said to slow down. You almost drowned. And I have no clue where we are. Right before the wave hit I couldn't see Choji and Lee or the shore. So we are probably out in the middle of the ocean. Thanks to you," Hazuki crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned against the wall behind her.

Now that they were somewhat save her anger was starting to come out. Shikamaru just looked out the opening into the storm, the full realization of his actions hitting him.

"I'm sorry," was all he could think of to say.

"You're sorry! That's it! That's all you have to say seriously! I almost died trying to save your ass, were stuck in a rock in the middle of the ocean and all you can say is sorry," She yelled her anger coming to full force.

If she wasn't so exhausted she would have punched him in the face, but her arms felt like jelly. She didn't know what she wanted him to say but just sorry wasn't good enough. Hazuki's outburst woke Shikamaru out the daze he was still in and he looked her in the face. All he could see was her kissing Choji and his anger reached to her level.

"What else do you want me to say," he yelled "I fucked up. I was angry and I let it get the best of me."

"What the hell did you have to be angry about? All I said was I should dive since you haven't done it before and oh look I was right."

"Well maybe if you didn't just go with me because Lee was on the other ski I wouldn't be pissed!"

"That makes no sense at all do you even hear yourself!"

At this point they were almost nose to nose screaming at each other. Both of their anger matched the storm outside.

"It makes perfect sense when all I see is you making out with Choji every time I look at either of you," As soon as the words left his mouth he wished he could reach out in front of him and grab them back.

They both were completely silent and just looked at each other. _Why the hell did I say that!? _He thought in a frenzy. It took Hazuki a minute for what he said for it to sink in. _He saw us. _Was all she could think of. The fact that all he could see was her kissing Choji when he looked at her still didn't register. Hazuki was the first to break the silence, her anger back in full force.

"First off you shouldn't have been watching us and second we weren't "making out" I fell into him and it just happened. It didn't mean anything!" as she spoke she got louder.

"That's not how it looked to me!"

"If it's so much of an issue then here," Hazuki grabbed hold of his shoulders, leaned in and pressed her lips to his.

Once Shikamaru realized what was going on he paced a hand in the small of her back pulling her closer and the kiss deepened. This was a lot different from the one with Choji from what she could remember. Choji's was sweet and loving, even though it was only a shot one, but this one was filled with passion and longing. Like a damn finally breaking open and the water flowing free. It was like time stood still. The storm outside was a distant memory. The only two things that existed were Hazuki and Shikamaru. She hadn't been kissed like that in a long time, she never thought she would again and it scared her. All these different emotions were starting to stir in her and she wasn't ready to feel them yet. So she pulled away suddenly breaking the embrace. The kiss lasted longer than she planned. She never thought he was going to kiss her back, and like that.

Hazuki sat back and softly said, "There. Now I kissed you. You have nothing to bitch about," She felt like she was in a daze.

Shikamaru barely heard her but didn't say a word anyway. It was like he couldn't even if he wanted to and he didn't know what to say anyway. Also feeling like he was in a daze and trying to calm himself, he just started out at the raging storm. The kiss unnerved him. He never experienced anything like that. Not even with Temari and he really loved her. At one point he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life and he never felt half of that with her.

He didn't know how long they both sat there not saying a word, but after what seemed like forever he turned to look at Hazuki. She was back to leaning against the wall her knees drawn to her chest. She was rolling a small tannish colored cassidae shell that hung from a rope around her neck between her fingers. He never noticed the necklace before.

"Have you always worn that?" He was trying to find something to talk about besides what just happened.

"Yes, just never when I'm in the ocean. I forgot to take it off this morning," Hazuki let the shell fall to her chest.

"I've never noticed it before."

"Because I always wear it under of my shirt it's not something I show off."

"So it's important to you. I have something like that back at home," he took a deep breath then continued "Listen I am really sorry about all of this and thanks for saving my life. I know I've been an ass at time."

Hazuki muttered that's an understatement and he went on.

"I know. There's just a lot going on with me right now, I know it's not an excuse and if I don't stop taking it out on you I'm going to lose you as a friend. I don't want that. So again I'm sorry for everything."

Hazuki was a little shocked by this. He apologized to her before but this one was different, more sincere in a way, but what she really wanted to know was why her "kiss" with Choji bothered him so much and if their kiss affected him like it did her. She was afraid to ask the later.

"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have freaked out on you before. You were out of it for the most part and I really thought we were going to die. I thought we both were. Thank god I'm a surfer or I don't think I could have done that. But since were being honest with each other what I really want to know is why this thing with Choji is brother you? " Hazuki pulled her legs under her and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Hmm, I'm not really sure myself. It just does. So can we go with that," Shikamaru turned his face away from Hazuki again.

He was happy they were in the dark because she couldn't see his face turning red. After that kiss he knew actually why it brother him. He still didn't want to admit it but he had feelings for her. A small nervous laugh left Hazuki's mouth. The kiss changed things for her to but she was fine leaving it as it was she had her answer.

Neither of them really knew what else to say after that. So the conversation moved to a lighter subject and soon they were relaxed a little and talking like close friends would. Shikamaru was complaining about his mother when he realized it might be a sore spot.

"Sorry I shouldn't complain about her since you don't have yours."

"It's fine. It was awhile ago. I still miss them, it hurts and I'm still mad. But it doesn't bother me like it did," Hazuki started playing with her shell again.

"How did they die?" They would talk about things like this during their shogi games but never about how they died.

"When I was about eight my parents died in a fire in Egypt. My father was on a business trip and my mother and me were supposed to go for a vacation. But I got sick and was stuck home. I remember being so mad that them for going without me. I actually yelled at my dad and wouldn't give him a kiss goodbye and I think that's what I have the hardest time with. But anyway they were at some theater for a cultural event or something and a candle caught a paper set on fire. We were told that my parents died trying to help others get out by the ones they helped. My grandmother always said that it was a noble death but I could care less. My parents were gone I was never going to see them again," Hazuki rested her head against the wall and started at the dark rock celling.

"Is your father the one who gave you the shell?"

"No. It was someone else who's also dead, but that's a touchy subject still," She stopped playing with the shell and made a fist around it.

"I get that, and I know how you feel. My godfather was killed a few years ago, and just recently I'm able to talk about it. We were always really close. When it happened he just found out his wife was pregnant and was on his way home from our house. I blame myself because if I didn't make him stay for one last game of shogi he might still be here. But as he passed a dark alley way he was mugged by a bunch of thugs. He fought back but there were too many of them. He died three days later in the hospital," Shikamaru looked down at his hands in his lap.

"You know you can't blame yourself for that. It wasn't your fault it was the scumbags that did it. Did they ever catch the thugs?"

"No but I recently found out who, I plan on getting them back, mostly just one in particular," he clenched his hands into fists. The thought of Asuma lying in a hospital bed his life slowly leaving made his blood boil more than fighting with Hazuki from earlier.

"I'm sorry," was all Hazuki could think of to say but she knew actually how he felt.

The two then sat across from each other both lost in thoughts. A lot of things neither of them liked to think about was brought up.

Shikamaru went back to watching the storm outside and Hazuki started at nothing in particular. It looked like it was calming down a little and when he went to say something to Hazuki he saw she was curled up close to the wall fast asleep. She didn't mean to fall asleep but she just couldn't keep her eyes opened. She was physically and mentally exhausted. They were both dry now but she was shivering. They were both only wearing bathing suits and Shikamaru was starting to feel a little chill. He debated for a few minutes whether he should curl up next to her so they could share body heat but he wasn't sure how she or even he would react after everything. Another chill ran down his spine and that made up his mind. He laid down in front of her and wrapped his arms around her pulling her close. He could feel his cheeks redden as she stopped shivering and snuggled into his chest. It didn't take long for Shikamaru to fall into a deep sleep because this just felt right even if they were totally fucked.

The next morning Hazuki was woken up to the sun blinding her. She was confused for a minute until she remembered where she was. She was wrapped in Shikamaru's arms and that confused her even more. He was still sleeping. She watched him for a little bit but knew she better get up and see how screwed they actually were. She slowly slipped out of Shikamaru's embrace trying not to wake him and stood in the opening of the cave. There was no sign of the raging storm for last night. The ocean was claim and beautiful again. The only problem was that's all Hazuki could see. No beach, no houses, nothing but ocean and a clear blue sky. Her stomach dropped as she realized they could be stuck here. Just then Shikamaru woke up when he didn't feel Hazuki in his arms. He turned to see her standing in the doorway blocking out most of the morning sun. He stretched then joined her.

"Were pretty screwed aren't we," he commented when he saw the scene before them.

"Yeah I think so. I'm going to get in a swim around to the other side and see if there's something better there," Hazuki sat on the ledge on the opening and put her legs into the cool water.

"I'll come with you," Shikamaru copied Hazuki as she slid the rest of the way in.

It took a good ten minutes for them to swim to the opposite of the rock. They were losing all hope when the scene was the same. As they started to make their way back towards the opening Shikamaru noticed something in the distance.

"Hazuki wait what's that?"

She stopped swimming and looked into the direction Shikamaru pointed. Off in the distance there looked to be a small boat coming towards them at full speed.

"Oh my god I think it's a boat," Hazuki couldn't believe her eyes.

"So we're saved?"

"I think so," they were both so relieved they hugged each other. When the realized what they were doing the pushed away fast as both of their faces turned red.

When the boat was in sight you could see Jiraiya waving his arm like crazy when he spotted the two. They waved back and bobbed in the water waiting for him.

"Am I happy to see you two. I really didn't want to have to call your parents and explain you were lost at sea," Jiraiya laughed as he pulled Hazuki onto the small speedboat.

"You really gave everyone a scare. I even called the coast guard. I'm just happy you're both save. What the hell happened?" Hazuki helped Jiraiya pull Shikamaru onto the boat. "You two didn't get busy did ya," He nudged Shikamaru. They both looked at him mortified.

After the awkward moment passed, Hazuki then explained everything that happened from being tipped over to doing CPR on Shikamaru. She left out the part of Shikamaru driving like a nut and a few other things that Jiraiya didn't need to know.

When they arrived at the house they were bombarded by all their friends. Reika squeezed Hazuki so hard she couldn't breathe and she didn't think Choji was going to let her go. You could see the worry and fear leaving their faces as they each hugged their missing friends. Seeing all of their smiling faces made her truly happy, but right then all she wanted was some food and a shower. As the two of them sat down to eat again Hazuki explained what happened. After everything was said and done and all the questions were answered Hazuki was finally able to get her shower.


	6. Chapter 6

Since the night in the cave Hazuki and Shikamaru both tried to act normal but were doing a poor job of it. They would be fine when everyone was around unless they accidently brushed hands or had to be close to one another. Then they would jump apart like the other was a fire, or make an excuse to move. Choji was the first to take notice but he didn't say anything because he was afraid to know the answer. The girls also caught on but they wanted to know in detail. They kept pestering her about what really happened and every time she would say the same thing, nothing happened. She was really getting tired of being told there was more to the story even if it was true. Hazuki didn't really know why she didn't want to tell her friends. She just knew she didn't. Maybe it was because she would have to go into everything with Choji and she didn't want to her friends to think she was that girl. One night kissing Choji, even if it was an accident, then another Shikamaru it looked bad. Plus if she told them she would have to admit there was something there with Shikamaru. Thinking about it was bad enough she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. Not yet at least.

The girls finally started to let up a bit when Hinata told them that Naruto had asked her to be his girlfriend. The girls were practically jumping out of their skin with excitement. It took Reika and Kiba a long time to finally become a couple, but it took Hinata and Naruto even longer. The event took place two days after the cave incidence. They were out on the back desk watching the waves caress the sandy beach while the sun looked like it was sinking into the orange, yellow and pink water. They were sitting next to each other on the white patio loveseat. Sasuke and the other boys helped boost Naruto's confidence so he would finally ask her, and he did. The both looked away from each other; faces beat red as she gave him a small yes.

"Really?" Naruto turned toward Hinata. He couldn't believe she said yes so he had to make sure.

"Yes," Hinata looked at him her facing getting even more red.

They just sat there stared into each other's eyes slowly moving closer. Their eyes closed, lips almost touching when Jiraiya came out of nowhere. The two quickly jumped apart.

"What the hell you prevy old man," Naruto turned to Jiraiya his eyes filled with fire. He waited so long for this moment and Jiraiya just ruined it.

"Oh so sorry I was never here. As you were," Jiraiya bowed slowly walked backwards the way he came. Their first kiss was going to have to wait. The moment was gone.

Hinata would still turn red when she thought about it but she also got excited.

On Saturday Shino and his girlfriend Asami were going to be joining the group. Then the following day Neji and Tenten would be there in time for the Firework Festival. Asami was short, cute with shoulder length golden hair and bangs reaching right above her blue eyes. She was wearing a cute flowing pale yellow skirt that looked like it had a pull tie around the middle. There was a mint green bow on the left. Her tank top was the same shade of green the same pull tie look under the breast. The only difference was the bow was on the right side. Shino and Asami looked cute together and you could see how much they like each other. It was amusing watching Shino the one who hardly ever said a word or really show much emotions blush every time he looked at the cute blonde. It was still hard to believe how perfect she was for him. She also fit right in with the other girls. That night the girls had a girl's night in their room and the boys had a boy's night in the basement.

Like the night at Hinata's the girls set up their bedrolls and used Naruto's laptop to watch movies. They had popcorn and other yummy junk food. The conversation would jump from subject to subject the way normal conversations for girls go. Reika asked Asami how she and Shino met and she was sorry she asked after she had the answer.

"Well I was at the park one day chasing a sympetrum frequens," Everyone gave her a confused look. "Sorry I'm a bug nut, it's a red dragonfly. It's pretty rare especially here. Anyway I was bent down digging through some bushes looking for this rare red bug, completely unaware of my surroundings, when I hit something hard with my head. I pulled back rubbing the sore spot and when I looked up there was Shino doing the same thing. We were both looking for the same red dragonfly in the same bush it kind of felt like fate. We started talking and that was that. I never thought I would find someone who had a passion for entomology like I do," She looked like she was on cloud nine remembering her sweet but weird meeting with Shino.

Most of the girls just smiled and say how cute it was when in reality most of them were creeped out. Reika was most of all she hated any kind of bug and would scream and carry on even if she saw a tiny little gnat. No one could figure out how this cute blonde girl could be into bugs. She looked like that kind of girl who would scream not get excited. So her paring with Shino was like a match made in heaven. Asami went on to explain a little more about her bug up session when the movie that was on ended. Reika took the opportunity to find something else to throw on for background noise instead of listening to anymore bug talk. She already had the hibbie-jibbies and knew she was going to have a hard time falling asleep. Asami then asked how the others met and started dating and everyone told their story in turn.

"You don't have a boyfriend Hazuki?" Asami asked breaking off a piece of chocolate from the huge bar they were all sharing then handing it off to Sakura.

Hazuki was just about to put a piece of popcorn in her mouth and stopped midair. Her mouth hanging opened.

"No she doesn't however she did get stuck with Shikamaru over night. They claim that nothing happened but something did," Ino answered for her while the other girls just giggled.

"Over night in a cave that sounds romantic," Asami wasn't trying to tease Hazuki like the rest were. The girl really found the idea romantic. It was anything but that.

"I keep telling you nothing did. We mostly just screamed at each other," This time Hazuki got the popcorn to her mouth.

"So you screamed at each other and then you made up right," Sakura put a lot of emphasis on made up.

"We just apologized then talked until I fell asleep, and by the time we woke up the next day Jiraiya was there," Hazuki was starting to get annoyed this was getting really old.

"We still don't believe you," Ino grabbed the chocolate bar Reika was handing her.

Hazuki gave her a dirty look, but inside she was freaking out. _What if he does say something? _She thought trying to keep her face emotionless.

"It's okay Hazuki you don't have to tell us even though we are your friends and just want to know what's going on with you. You're the only one of us who doesn't have a boyfriend. Don't you feel left out?" Reika tried to guilt her into telling them. Hazuki had been around Reika long enough to know her tactics, so the dirty look was turned to her.

Reika put her hands up in surrender. "I'm just saying."

"Can we hum change the subject? Hazuki doesn't want to talk about it. Plus I have some questions about Naruto," Hinata nervously played with her hands in her lap.

Hazuki wanted to kiss her savior but knew if she did the others wouldn't drop it until she gave them something more than what she already did.

Down in the basement the boys were eating junk food, playing video games and hanging out. Pretty much the same thing the girls were doing. Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Lee were playing _Mario Kart 8_ on the Wii. While Sai, Shino and Choji watched and waited for their turn. Shikamaru was out on the back deck lounging in one of the white patio chairs having a cigarette.

His legs were resting on the table next to his pack of Seven Stars and his beat up silver zippo lighter. One of his most prized possessions. The night was warm and the sounds of the waves had a calming effect. He watched the white smoke twist and turn as it rose up into the dark night sky. There was a lot on his mind and it was starting to become troublesome. He like being laid back just going with the flow nothing really bothering him. However, since Asuma's death two years ago and the fact that nothing was done about it started this down fall Shikamaru has been feeling. He felt obligated to do something about it himself but his hands were tied at this point. Everything was slowing becoming more complicated as time went on.

Temari started most of the problems lately. He felt that no matter what was going on she was there for him and it turned out that she wasn't. She started to pull her shit and he was left with no choice but to break it off. It wasn't easy to do but it had to be done. He figured that would help uncomplicated things but she was still playing her games. Then there was the pressure of high school. His mother would give him a lecture every morning about important it was for him to get into a good college. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to go to college and that was another issue all in its own. And last Hazuki showed up. Butterflies started to swim around in his stomach at the thought of her. Normally it wouldn't be a problem. So what he had a crush on her they had a lot in common, they could have dated and that be that. However, there was Choji. He wasn't sure how Hazuki felt but he knew his best friend. Choji liked her. That was the worst thing of all. _How the hell did I mange liking the same girl as his best friend_. He thought slamming his fist on the glass table in frustration. The glass rattled but didn't break. He didn't know what to do about any of this and it was starting to drive him crazy.

"Are you okay," Choji's voice made Shikamaru jump.

"Yeah I'm fine," Shikamaru took a drag on his cigarette trying to calm down.

"You haven't been yourself for a few days. You sure there's nothing you want to talk about?" Choji sat in the chair across from his friend.

Shikamaru picked up his lighter and ran his thumb over the smooth surface. "Yeah just a lot on my mind." How was he supposed to tell his friend what was bugging him.

They sat there in silence just listening to the waves. Choji didn't believe Shikamaru was alright. He knew him better than anyone, and he just had a gut feeling it was about Hazuki_. What happened between them in that cave? _He thought, but he knew he wasn't going to get anything out of him tonight and he still didn't want to know.

"Well then come on, it's our turn on _Mario Kart_," Choji got up and waiting for Shikamaru to throw his butt over the side and follow him.

The next day was the Firework Festival which marked the end of the summer. Schools started tomorrow and the day after, and it was a bittersweet time. A little after ten Neji and Tenten arrived and the whole group was together. The girls brought Tenten up to speed witheverything that happened, while the boys did their normal things. At around noon everyone started to get ready to head out to the festival. All of the girls decided to wear yikata(summer kimono) so it was going to take them a little bit to get dressed and do their hair. The boys decided on a more comfortable look by choosing to wear jinbei.

Hazuki had a few minutes alone in the girl's room while everyone else was rushing around trying to get ready. Her mother's yikata was lying across the bed. She kind of wished she decided on the female version of the jinbel but her grandmother went to all the trouble of getting it out. She ran her fingers down the pale yellow fabric covered in purple pink moonflowers, her mother's favorite flower. The matching purple pink obi lay next to it. She felt a pang of sadness as she remembered so many nights spent in their backyard, waiting for the pretty white flowers to bloom. She was thinking about her parents a lot in the last few days, and it was making her miss them more. Then Ino interrupted her thoughts.

"Huh," Hazuki turned towards her.

Ino's hair was up in a bun with curls handing out here and there. She even curled her bangs that she always had hanging free. She was wearing a light red yikata with dark red flowers and a dark red obi.

"You're hair; do you want me to do it?" Ino held out a brush and an array of different hair ties and clips.

"Oh yeah, please. Sorry I was in another world," Hazuki managed as Ino motioned for her to sit on the bed.

"You've seem to be like this since your overnight stay with Shikamaru. You really should just spill about what happened already," Ino just wouldn't let up.

Hazuki's stomach dropped, "Almost drowning and being stuck in a cold cave in the middle of the ocean overnight wasn't enough for you."

"No it was but I would rather juicy gossip plus the two of you are acting different. Plus I keep catching Shikamaru watching you when he doesn't think anyone is looking. The logical thought is that something happened that night. So just spill," Ino brushed out Hazuki's long hair as she went to work on it.

"Ino nothing happened really."

"Okay fine. I'll drop it for now and only because your hair is almost done. But just know that if you don't spill soon I'm going after Shikamaru."

Hazuki hoped it was an empty threat and that he wouldn't say anything.

A few minutes later Ino tapped Hazuki's shoulder, "Go look."

Hazuki got off the bed and headed towards the mirror hanging above the dresser. She was in awe when she saw her reflection. Ino left her bands down but the rest was pulled back with tiny little braids here and there entwined into and threw a messy bun at the top of her head. It looked interknit and should have taken longer than it did.

"Wow Ino it's gorgeous I love it. Thank you," Hazuki turned this way and that admiring her hair.

Ino laughed, "Your welcome. Now come on I'll help you into your yikata."

About an hour later everyone was ready. All of the girls had their hair up in similar styles like Ino's and Hazuki's, and they looked like a rainbow with the different colored yikatas they were wearing. Reika's yikata was a dark pink with white feathers covering it and a white obi. Sakura was wearing a red yikata with pink sakura flowers covering it and a pink obi. Hinata's was a darker yellow with red flames lining the ends of the bottom and sleeves, her obi was red. Tenten's was purple with a lighter purple lining the ends of the bottom and sleeves and a matching lighter purple obi. Asami's was a darker purple with dark yellow butterflies and a yellow obi. All of the boys were wearing traditional blues, blacks and grey jinbei, the prints ranging from simple textures to lines. They all gathered in the kitchen by the front door and started on the short walk to the festival.

As the group grew closer to the festival you could hear the sounds of traditional Japanese music. The taiko drums boomed along with the sweet sound of the fue flutes. The flutes always reminded Hazuki of a bird singing. The smell of yakitori, takoyaki, karumeyaki and a lot of other mouthwatering foods floated along on the wind. It seemed like people filled every nook and cranny of the place. There was laughter and chatter of happy people all around. There so much to look at it was like it would take days to see everything. Stands filled with all differ kinds of goodies were everywhere you turned. There were games like ring toss, cork guns and change games. When Hazuki saw the kinguo sukui, she remembered playing it at a festival with her father. She cried and cried because each time she thought she had a goldfish her net would be dissolved. She only stopped crying when her father handed her a bright orange fish that he won.

There were other stands littered with knickknack, small toys and plastic masks of random characters. Naruto, Kiba, Sai and Lee each bought a mask of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and wore them on the back of their heads. The liked the idea of people having to take a double look, and Hazuki got the impression that Sai was doing it just to fit in. Either way they were such children. As they walked around looking at everything, playing games and just hanging out, they all seemed to eat one of everything they passed. Reika kept going back for chocolate filled taiykis and dangos. Hazuki was partial to the ikayki, grilled squid on a stick and the strawberry chocolate dipped banana also on a stick. Sakura, Hinata and Lee keep going back to the candy stand for the make your own edible cup filled with hard, gummy candy floating in chewy candy goodness. They all ate so much they shouldn't need to eat for at least three days. Along with the traditional music flowing through the air, there was a stage set up in the middle of everything and throughout the day different acts like singing and dancing were performed. After a while the group broke off into smaller groups and agreed to meet up right before the fireworks.

Reika and Kiba were the first to head off. Kiba grabbed Reika's hand and pulled her behind a Yakisoba stand for a quick kiss before they headed towards the games. Kiba wanted to win Reika one of the million stuffed plushies around. Sakura and Sasuke were the next followed by Shino and Asami. Naruto and Hinata tried to nonchalantly leave the group but they couldn't get past Neji. He was watching them since he first took notice of their closeness. He was unaware of their new found relationship and for good reason. Neji was a little too over protective of his cousin and while he liked Naruto he just didn't think he was good enough for Hinata. He shot daggers at the back of Naruto's head and Ino nudged Tenten. Tenten was able to distract him. However, not before he made a mental note to look into this further. After a few more stands they wonder off.

"And their still trying to say they're not a couple," Ino put her hands on her hips, shaking her head as she watched the two walk away.

Ino and Sai were the last couple to leave the group because Lee randomly disappeared and no one really knew when.

Hazuki, Choji and Shikamaru were the only ones left. At first the air between them was a little tense and for multiple reasons. However, after a little bit of awkward silence the mood was lighten when they again passed the kinguo sukui booth. Choji insisted they play. The three laughed as one would try to get a fish and miss. No one really knew who started it but the innocent game turned into each one trying to hold the others net in the water. When the worker of the stand gave them a dirty look they decided to move on. Each empty handed and the front of them a little damp. After that all awkwardness was gone and it was three friends enjoying themselves.

About a half hour before the sun was going to set everyone started heading towards the meet up spot. Hazuki, Choji and Shikamaru were the first ones there. From the left direction came Sakura and Sasuke and from the right came Kiba, Reika, Naruto and Hinata. Both Kiba's and Naruto's arms were filled with different plushies. Reika explained how they got into a battle over who could win the most stuffed animals. They ended up being tied. The boys were still bickering while Reika seemed annoyed and Hinata was just quite. Like she didn't know what she should do. The bickering stopped when Sakura yelled at them both and threatened to hit them. After that the others slowly started to show up. Lee was the last and to everyone's disbelief he had a cute little brunette with huge hazel eyes with him. He introduced her as he good friend Erina. She was also wearing a yikata. It was blue with white koi fish swimming over it and a white obi.

The sun was starter to set as the group set out to find a good spot to watch the fireworks. As were nearing the small hills behind the stands everyone started to get quite and the guys started acting weird. Hazuki was walking a little ahead of Choji and Shikamaru and they both nonchalantly put her in the middle of them. Kiba was holding Reika's hand but he pulled her closer and put his arm around her waist. Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand making her turn bright red. Neji gave him another dirty look while moving closer to Tenten. Sai and Sasuke both pulled Ino and Sakura closer and Lee, his friend, Shino and Asami moved closer to the group. Hazuki looked around not sure what was going on and feeling like a group of herded sheep. She then saw a group nine guys and four girls. They had to be the reason for everyone acting odd. Everyone in the other group was wearing the same black jacket that reminded her of leather biker jackets but they weren't leather. There was a white and red cloud on the back and a red band with a different kanji for each of them on the left arm. They looked like a street gang, people that you didn't want to mess with. Even the girls were intimidating looking.

Sasuke glared at one guy in particular with total discus on his face. He looked a few years older but he was a perfect version of Sasuke. He had onyx eyes and dark hair pulled back into a low ponytail. His bangs were parted in the middle and framed his face. The only difference was under his eyes he had pronounced tear-troughs. He was wearing a red hoodie and black shirt under his jacket and dark blue jeans. He wore necklace with three silver rings attack to the chair. They had to be related but Hazuki never heard Sasuke or anyone else talk about a brother. When Sasuke's older self, noticed normal Sasuke he looked like he wanted to say something but thought better of it and looked away. As Sasuke and the others passed the group some of the guys started whistling and hooting at the girl. Hazuki went to turn around to say something; she hated when guys did that but Choji grabbed her arm and shook his head no. However, that didn't sit well with the girls of their group either. One of them had long black hair pulled into a high ponytail with bangs framing her face and dark green eyes. She was wearing her jacket tied around her waist over a short black skirt. Her shirt was green and looked like a piece of material that a rounded diamond was cut out of the middle for the head, wrapped over her chest and stomach and tied on each side. It left a lot of skin showing with the V-neck, bare arms and sides. One of the guys had blue eyes and long blonde hair worn in a half ponytail with the rest hanging freely. He had bangs that hung over his left eye concealing that half of his face. He was wearing dark jeans and a dark blue green hoodie under his jacket. Both were opened and revealing his flat muscled stomach. He was leaning on the girl in the green shirt and after he yelled something provocative, she pushed him away from her so hard he lost his balance and face planted right into the dirt path in front of him. The group erupted into loud laughter and stopped paying attention to Hazuki's group. After the gang was out of sight and sound the guys relaxed a bit and everything went back to normal.

"What the hell was that all about," Hazuki didn't ask any one in particular.

"They're a well-known street gang known as the Akatsuki. Your best bet when you see them is to act like they're not there. We've had run-ins with them in the past and it wasn't pretty," Neji explained and that was all that was said.

No one seemed like they wanted to go into any more than that. Hazuki wasn't content with that but figured she would let it go until she could get Choji or Reika alone. One of them would explain further.

They found a spot on top of a little hill and placed the two blankets they brought on the soft green grass. They made it just in time because within a few seconds the dark sky was filled with bright colorful explosions. Oranges, yellows, blues, greens and purples were only a few of the colors that lit up the sky. It was like the stars turned different colors and started dancing threw the night sky it was so beautiful. Everyone watched in awe as the fireworks continued to cascade across the sky. It was one of the longest and prettiest firework displays Hazuki had ever seen. When the sky went back to its normal dark blue and the stars were a normal white, the group started to gather their things to head home.

"Oh I almost forgot. I promised my grandmother I would get her watame. I'll be right back," Hazuki turned and headed towards the cotton candy booth before anyone could stop her.

There were a few people in line but it didn't take long for Hazuki to buy a colorful bag covered in cute chibi panda bears and filled with white fluffy cotton candy. As she was paying she heard an unfamiliar voice right next to her ear.

"Hey there sweet ass. Why don't you ditch the dork squad and come hang out with me. I can show you a real good time."

She turned to see one of the guys from the Akatsuki standing right behind her. From the way everyone was acting Hazuki felt like she should be afraid of him but she wasn't. He was just some asshole punk. He had tanned skin, purple eyes and medium length silver hair that was slicked back. He had on dark jeans and his Akatsuki jacket was opened revealing his muscled chest and stomach that was covered in white bandages. He wore a pendant of an equilateral circumscribed triangle on a black rope that stood out on his tanned skin. He had a cocky and arrogant air to him that made Hazuki want to punch him in the face.

"I don't hang out assholes," she replied with a little more attitude then she wanted and turned to walk away.

"Aren't you a feisty one? I like my women that way," he smirked as he grabbed her arm roughly stopping her in her tracks.

Hazuki was just about to let the urge to punch him in the face become a reality but she was saved by one of the girls from the gang, angrily walking towards them. As soon as he saw the girl he dropped Hazuki's arm.

"Hidan! What the fuck are you doing? You better not be trying to pick up another girl. I'll kick your fucking ass again," She yelled as she drew closer.

She had long wavy brown hair and dark purple eyes. She was wearing a tight low cut short purple dress with gold beads strung across her collarbone under her Akatsuki jacket. She dress looked like if she bent over she was going to fall out of it, but from the way she carried herself she probably wouldn't care. She walked right up to Hidan and slapped him across the face so hard she left a red handprint. Hazuki took the opportunity to make her escape. She heard Hidan lying threw his teeth saying she was the one who was hitting on him and how she was the only one for him.

Hazuki must have had a look on her face because when she returned to her group of friends Choji asked her if she was okay and what happened. She told him she was fine and just tired. He didn't buy it but let it go. Everyone had everything gathered up and they started on the short walk back to Naruto's. As they were leaving they heard Jiraiya yelling and waving to get their attention. He was in a group of people but Hazuki could have sworn that Principal Tsunade was on his arm, but the women turned away to look at something so she was unsure. The woman was wearing a pink and red yikata with purple leafs covering it and a green blue obi. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a messy bun and held in place with pink and red pins.

"Don't wait up for me kids. I'll see you all in the morning." He turned to walk away then turned back. "Oh and don't do anything I wouldn't do." He laughed and headed on his way.

When they arrived at Naruto's the group changed into sleep clothes and headed to the basement to play a game of cards and watch a movie. At one point Hazuki was able to corner Reika and asked what the deal with the gang from before. Reika explained that the guy who looked like Sasuke was indeed his brother named Itachi. Sasuke hated him mostly due to the fact of his involvement in the Akatsuki and from what Sakura said he blamed Itachi for their parent's death, which was another story all together. The other members of the Akatsuki would periodically mess with one of their group, but only if Sasuke's brother wasn't around. Like Neji said before the best thing to do was avoid them. If you showed them any kind of attention it would only give them more ammo._ Oh shit_ Hazuki thought_. Well what are the chances of running into him again?_

The next day was the last at Naruto's. School was starting tomorrow and everyone needed to get ready. It was mostly a lazy day. They spent a few hours on the beach Hazuki was making sure to surf one last time. Then everyone gathered their things and started to head home. A lot had gone on during the week from their first night there to the festival. Hazuki didn't know what the next year was going to bring but she had a feeling it was going to be interesting.


	7. Chapter 7

The second year was a lot different than the first. Instead of their group being in one class they were spilt up among three classes. Hazuki, Choji, Shikamaru, Sakura and Sasuke were in 2A. Reika, Kiba, Naruto, Hinata and Ino were in 2B and Lee, Sai, Shino, Tenten and Neji were in 2C. On the first day Reika stood outside her classroom with Hazuki and Sakura. She had high hopes she wouldn't have Mr. Hatake for her first class.

"Because what are the chances of two years in a row right," Reika smiled and waved at her two friends as she entered her classroom.

A few minutes later Reika face planted on her desk when the tall, well-built, white haired teacher walked into the classroom. _Why?! Why me? What have I ever done in my life to deserve this?!_ She thought as she opened her eyes and started at the white smooth desk her forehead and nose was touching. _Ow that really hurt._ She lifted her head and rubbed her forehead.

At lunch that day it wasn't too cold so the group ate outside. Like first year their spot was the same place Hazuki would find her solitude when she first arrived there. It seemed like it was so long ago and she would have never thought that in her second year she would be bummed about being spilt up. Everyone was but the one who had a biggest problem with it was Neji. He was almost angry about it. He was not okay with the fact that Naruto was in the same class as Hinata while he was in a completely different one. There was more tension building between the two every day. Neji was certain that Naruto and Hinata were more than just friends. He didn't have any proof; however he was just waiting to catch them in the act. Tenten and Lee tried to talk to him but he wouldn't hear of it. Everyone knew it was a matter of time before Neji found out but so far Naruto and Hinata hiding their relationship was succeeding.

Besides for all the drama in their little group there was a lot going on with school. The biggest event everyone was starting talking about was the Sports Festival. The school held it sometime in the middle of October. It was a three days event where the school day was filled with everything but classes. The first day was a competition between classes. At the end there would be a winning class for each year. The second and third day was a competition between other schools in the area. Each year it would rotate between schools. This year it was Konoha's turn. These days were also opened to the public so friends and family of all schools could attend. At the end of those two days there would be a winning school. It was a big deal to be the winning school. Hazuki understood school rivalry but this was a little crazy. It also caused Kiba to really get on her about joining track and field. It didn't matter if they were competing against _Hogwarts_ she was still telling him no.

By the second week of school things were back to normal with Hazuki and Choji. It was like nothing happened. Shikamaru on the other hand took a while longer. Hazuki only knew things were really okay between them was when their Shogi games started up again. She was actually relieved the first time he asked her to come over after school. She didn't realize how anxious she was about losing him until then, and like Choji neither of them said a word about what happened that summer.

It was a chilly Sunday morning when Mameha woke Hazuki up with a phone call from Manami. If Hazuki's dark wine haired cousin was in front of her she would have punched her. She looked at her alarm clock seeing it was only a little after seven am as she said hello.

"Are you still sleeping? Get up asshole. What the hell is up?" Manami was way too happy.

"Do you know what time it is here?" Hazuki mumbled rolling flat on her back as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"About ten at night, oh right time difference. Yeah no clue what time is it there."

"Well it's a little after seven in the morning. On one of the only days I can sleep in," Hazuki was starting to wake up.

"I am so sorry, but the damage is done can't take it back. So I repeat what's up? Anything good happing with my man Choji, you told him about me right?"

"This is really too early for all of this. You know that right?"

"Yes we have been over this already but this was the only time I could call. So talk to me Zee."

She hated when Manami used her sad please voice.

"Okay fine a quick run-down of everything going on here. All of us went to Naruto's for about a week the end of the summer. I got a lot of surfing in. One night we had a bonfire and drank and I accidently fell into a kiss with Choji. Then a few days later I got stuck during a storm in the middle of the ocean because Shikamaru saw the kiss and for some reason had a problem with it. So I had to save him from drowning. I found this rock cave thing were we had to stay the night. I also ended up kissing him to prove a point which only made things weird between us. Then summer ended with a huge Firework Festival which was awesome, but there was this gang I can't remember what they were called. They were kind of starting shit and one was really trying to hit on me. He was a real cocky asshole so if I never see him again that will be too soon," Hazuki said all of that without taking a breath. She was hoping that Manami wouldn't pay attention to certain parts if she threw it all at her at once.

"Wow wait, back that train up. You accidentally fell into a kiss with my husband to be and then kissed his best friend when you were having a near death experience. What the hell?! You whore. I want more details on that. I really don't care about the other stuff besides the gang. You really have them there?"

Hazuki should have known better. Manami picked up on the things Hazuki didn't want her to. The only reason she told her at all was because she needed to tell someone about it.

"I am not a whore. Bitch. Plus there really isn't much to say. Both things just kind of happened, and yes there are gangs here where the hell do you think I live?"

"Ha ha true it just seems odd to me. But back to the good stuff what did Reika, Ino and whoever else have to say about it?"

Hazuki was quite for a second, "I haven't told anyone but you. I was afraid they would think I'm playing games or have your reaction."

"Well if you were whoring around that wouldn't be a problem. But talk to one of them they could have a lot of input on both subjects they all grew up together," Manami said in her matter of fact, you know I'm right so you better just do it voice.

"But it's kind of over and done with. So I think it's just better to act like nothing happened. Like all of us have been," Hazuki sighed.

"Well I understand Choji being an accident because you would never play me like that," Manami tried to lighten the mood. "But how do you feel about Shikamaru? You did kiss him," Manami put a lot of emphasis on you.

"I don't like him like that if that's what you're implying. The kiss was just to prove a point but then it was…I don't know."

Manami finished for her, "A steal your breath, firework exploding kind of kiss."

Hazuki laughed. "I forgot how much your imagination ran wild. It's good you're the artist in the family."

"I know but I'm not imagining this. You're lying like a Persian rug. You so like him you're just afraid and I would put money on that he feels the same. So you really should talk to him. And that's all there is too it."

"No I'm not. That's not how any of this is, and I'm definitely not talking to him about it."

"You're being stupid. You know he wouldn't want this."

Hazuki cut her off. "This has nothing to do with that so drop it. I'll talk to Reika and see what she thinks about everything."

Manami agreed with her and dropped it. She could only image what her cousin was feeling after everything that happened, and she knew she might have pushed a little too much. So she changed the subject. Girls were on the phone awhile and by the time Hazuki was hanging up she was fully awake and hungry.

A few days later Reika's gymnastics was canceled so she conned Hazuki into going to Kiba's track and field practice. It was a really cold day or at least it was for Hazuki. She hated the cold and would have rather be running to work up a sweat. Instead of sitting on cold bleachers that was making her butt numb. She cupped her hands over her nose and mouth trying to warm them. Reika looked over at her friend and gave her an odd look. Hazuki was acting like it was -17.8C outside when it was only about 15.6C.

"Are you really that cold?" Reika rubbed her friends back trying to warm her up.

Hazuki stopped blowing on her hands long enough to say. "I lived in a place where it is always warm. I don't like the cold."

"Yeah sorry I forgot about that," Reika laughed.

The girls were quite for a few minutes watching the team stretch then Hazuki broke the silence.

"So," she started "I need to talk to you about something."

"Okay what about. I'm all ears," Reika put her two index fingers on both sides of her head and wiggled them back and forth to look like ears.

She didn't think it was anything really serious. Hazuki never wanted to TALK, talk. No drama ever came from her, but then she gave Reika a look that meant she wanted to be serious.

"What's up?" Reika put her hands in her lap taking the hint.

Hazuki turned forward and looked out in the distant. "Something did happen with Shikamaru that night in the summer," She then turned her gaze to her black booths covering her feet.

Reika laughed in relief. Her mind was coming up with the most horrible thing she could think of when her friend was being so serious.

"We all kind of knew that. I only busted on you because I could. You know I don't get many and I knew you would tell me when you wanted to. So now that we are here you need to tell me everything," Reika tried to hind her excitement but it was hard.

Like Ino and Sakura Reika liked good gossip every once in a while and Hazuki wasn't an open book. You really had dig to get past the wall she kept up all the time. So this was a rare opportunity.

"You don't have to sound so happy about it," Hazuki shot Reika a dirty look and took a deep breath. "We…kind of kissed," Hazuki turned round to her friend putting her hands up in defense. "Now before you go all crazy it didn't mean anything."

"How can that not mean anything," Reika grabbed her friends hands and was almost jumping up and down.

_Wait till I tell the other girls._ She thought just as Hazuki told her she had to keep her mouth shut.

"But, but why?" Reika pouted. It was like Hazuki read her mind.

"I said it didn't mean anything and I don't want the others to make a big deal about it. And you know how Ino is. I won't hear the end of it."

"Fine but only if you give me the rest of the details."

Hazuki went back and explained the whole Choji thing. Reika couldn't believe what she was hearing. _Hazuki sure was go big or go home when she came out of the shell_. She thought as she hung on Hazuki's every word. She lost all interest in watching her boyfriend. After Hazuki explained everything Reika sat quite.

"Why aren't you saying anything? You always have something to say," Hazuki was still a little nervous about her reaction but she was trying not to let it show.

"Well if no one has said anything it's too late now and especially if everything is normal. The kiss with Choji was an accident. Plus he's never said anything about crushing on you. Choji's shy but you two are also close so I think he would have said something. So I don't think you have anything to worry about there. However, the kiss with Shikamaru did mean something and you both know it. I have no clue what to tell you about that. I guess just wait and see what happens. Unless you do like Shikamaru then I advise you tell him. But wow best friends really," Both girls laughed.

"Yeah I know I feel like shit about it," Hazuki looked at her friend.

"That's understandable, but you're avoiding the question."

_Why does everyone have to keep asking me this, _Hazuki thought while she tried to figure out what to say.

"No, I don't like him like that," Hazuki focused on the track team practicing.

"I think you do you just don't want to say your blushing."

Hazuki put her hands to her face. She was so cold she didn't feel her cheeks warm up. "It's because I'm cold," She tried to lie.

"Sure it is but I get it. It's fine I won't make you say what we both know, but you're going to have to admit it at some point."

"I can't admit something that isn't true," Hazuki gave a fake smile knowing her friend was right.

Their conversation went from random thing to random thing. Reika was telling Hazuki a hilarious story about a hung thunderstorm they had over the summer. She was at Kiba's and came to find out that Kiba and Akamaru were both deathly afraid of thunder. This was first time Reika was hearing about her tough boyfriend being afraid of something and of all things thunder. The funny part was Kiba was fighting Akamaru over sitting behind Reika under a blanket on the couch. They were still laughing about the mental image when Kiba made his way over to them. He wanted to know what was so funny, but knowing he would be hurt and mad at knowing she told Hazuki. She just told him it was girl stuff and he lost all interest. So he moved onto hassling Hazuki about joining the team. His logic was since she came to watch a practice it was now only a matter of time. She responded with a punch to his arm.

Talking to Reika made Hazuki feel better but it also made her feel worse. There were a lot of different emotions she was trying to sort out at once. However, for the time being all of that needed to be placed on the back burning because later that week things were getting worst between Neji and Naruto. The tension at lunch was almost unbearable. They weren't even doing anything it was just the air around the both of them. They would send the other a dirty looks whenever they could. Neji was going out of his way to catch Naruto and Hinata doing anything together. While Naruto was getting more and more annoyed because he didn't like having to hiding and poor Hinata was in the middle just hoping it wouldn't come to a fight. With each passing day it seemed more likely.

One Friday night Naruto, Hinata, Reika, Kiba, Sakura and Sasuke decided to go on a group date. One: because Naruto needed a fun night out with Hinata. Two: if they ran into Neji it was just a group of them out and Three: group dates are fun. They decided to go bowling then grab smoothing to eat, a nice quite night out. Bowling was a lot of fun. Naruto and Hinata were able to hold hangs and act like a couple without Neji's hawk like eyes hunting them. When the game was over the result was Naruto and Kiba were tied. They both insist that they were the better player and if there was more time it could have been proven. They started bickering and it went on all the way to the ramen restaurant they chose for dinner. Reika elbowed Kiba in the side as they walked through the door. He knew it was time for him to shut up. His cute, sweet, funny girlfriend was not fun to deal with when she was mad. Even if he thought it was kind of sexy he still didn't want to get hit. When it came to ramen Naruto had a one track mind so as soon as the smell hit his nose he could care less about Kiba.

Reika couldn't believe how stuffed she was as the group started heading towards the train station. Every time she did this she told herself it was the last time, which it never was. Kiba was on her left, Hinata was to her right and Naruto was on Hinata's right. Sakura and Sasuke were on the other side of Kiba a few steps behind everyone. The night was a little chilly but it was clear. The moon was full and stars were twinkling. They were taking a short cut threw a small park where the station was on the other side. The path was lined with trees that were almost bare and flowers getting ready for their winter nap.

It would have been romantic walk for the three couples if you couldn't hear Kiba and Naruto bicker over bowling again. Reika wanted to hit both of them for ruining the perfect night when she noticed Hinata let go of Naruto's hand and stop right in her tracks. A look of horror washed over her face. Reika stopped to ask her what was wrong until she followed Hinata's gaze. There standing a few away was Neji and Tenten. Around the same time the rest of the group went silent when they noticed the duo coming towards them. Neji's fits were balled up at his side, a look to kill was written over his face. Tenten was a few steps behind looking very worried and saying something to Neji that no one could hear. If Reika didn't know any better she would have sworn there was smoke streaming out of Neji's nostrils, just like a pissed off bull ready to charge at a red cape and she knew who the red cape was Naruto.

A lot of things happened at once but it was like everything was in slow motion. It didn't take long for Neji to close the space between Naruto and himself. Neji lunged as Naruto pushed Hinata out of the way as he readied himself for the impact. Tenten caught Hinata so she didn't hit the ground and they both moved out of the way. As this was happening Kiba grabbed Reika and put her behind her, as Sasuke did the same with Sakura. They all watched in disbelief as Neji fits hit Naruto hard under his chin lifting him a few inches off the ground. In another second he kicked him right in the stomach. Naruto wasn't sure what hurt more as he made contact with the sidewalk now under him. Neji didn't give him time to breath when he was lifting him off the ground and hitting him again. Naruto was like a rag doll the way Neji was tossed him around. Neji was so fast that Naruto didn't have a chance to gather himself. Again the sidewalk rushed to meet Naruto. He whipped blood out of his eyes with the back of his hand as he struggled to get up. Then he took a defensive stance he wasn't going to let Neji beat him.

"I knew there was something going on with you and Hinata. You knew I didn't approve. You made it come to this Naruto," Neji also took on a defensive stance.

"I'm sorry you feel this way but I'm with Hinata now and I'm not giving her up because you don't like it. You can't tell people how to feel," Naruto shot back before he charged at Neji with newfound strength.

No one knew how he did it but Naruto was putting up just as good of a fight as Neji. It wasn't odd for Naruto to do something he couldn't just by sheer willpower alone but it was still amazing to watch. The two threw punches at each other and were really kicking the crap out of each other. For every punch Neji threw Naruto returned one. After so long there was a cut here that bleed, a nose bleeding there. This seemed to go on for a while but it was only lasted a few minutes. The damage they both inflicted on each other in the few minutes they had before Kiba and Sasuke jumped didn't seem possible. The two were struggling to get at each other while they yelled insults back and forth. It took a while to get them both calmed down enough to get them to go separate ways.

Hazuki was sitting on the end of her bed towel drying her hair when her cell phone went off. It was on her nightstand and she almost fell off the bed trying to reach for it. She pushed herself further back as she answered her phone.

"Hello," Hazuki put the towel back to the side of her head that she the phone wasn't on.

"Oh my god Hazuki Neji and Naruto fought," Reika sounded antsy.

"What happened?" Hazuki stopped drying her hair.

"Neji found out about Naruto and Hinata and he just flew at Naruto. They're both really banged up and bloody. Both are still breathing and no one is in the hospital, but Neji told Naruto it wasn't over and took Hinata with him. Naruto's not to happy Sasuke and Sakura took him home. I don't know what's going to happen now," The more Reika spoke the more she sounded like herself.

"I knew he would find out eventually but I didn't think it would be like that."

"I know I was scared and didn't know what to do. I hate when stuff like this happens."

The girls talked on the phone for so long that by the time Hazuki hung up her hair was almost dry. She got up and grabbed her brush off the dresser and ran it threw her long dark hair. When it was knot free she threw it up into a messy bun, which defeated the purpose of brushing it, and headed back over to her bed. She dropped her towel into the laundry basket by her closet, grabbed the book off of her nightstand and snuggled into bed. She hoped that maybe now lunch would be nice again. After they beat the crap out of each other, Naruto and Neji should be okay, something about testosterones and male dominants.

Hazuki was way wrong about lunch. The next few days at school were horrible. Neji refused to sit with the others at lunch since Naruto was there and he wouldn't let Hinata either. In class Reika and Ino would try to get Hinata to understand that Neji couldn't control her that much, she was free to like who she wanted but she wouldn't listen. She just sat there sad and quiet staring out the classroom window. Naruto wasn't any better. The only time you would get another emotion out of him was when he would see Neji. Then complete hatred would wash over his face. Tenten and Lee didn't have any luck trying to talk to Neji again. It seemed hopeless and their group of friends was being forced apart. Hazuki was still surprised at how much this bothered her. She really had become close with her group of friends and they were important to her.

The following week things were a little bit better but it wasn't any worse which was the best thing. Hinata started talking to Naruto but only in class. No one knew what to do because talking wasn't doing anything with any of the three. So they all just went with it and hoped for the best. It wasn't long before Reika had another canceled gymnastic practice. She asked Hazuki to go with her to watch Kiba again and she agreed only because it would be nice to get away from the whole Naruto Neji battle. The two girls were sitting on the bottom bleacher closet to the starting line when a few of the others showed up. Hazuki was happy when she saw Choji and Shikamaru coming towards them. They were followed by Shino, Ino and Sai. The group huddled together and chatted as they watched and cheered on their friend. Kiba was the fastest out of the team. Hazuki laughed to herself when she remembered their race last year.

Shikamaru was sitting next to Hazuki and he kept putting his cold hand on her neck. When she finally had enough she tried to push him off the bleacher. He was almost off the metal surface when she noticed blonde hair out of the corner of her eye and then warm brown liquid it covered her right arm and most of her legs. Thankfully it was colder outside so the cup of hot chocolate Reika forgot on the banister wasn't steaming. Hazuki jumped up more surprised than hurt.

Ino was trying to jump over Reika's head but Sai was able to stop her. She was trying to get to the blonde girl walking across the field like nothing happened.

"You snake! Why don't you try doing something face to face instead of being cheap," Ino was struggling against her boyfriend.

The only response Temair gave was raising her hand to flip Ino off, which only pissed her off more. On the other side of the field Temair met up with a group of kids all wearing Suna High's gym uniforms. Temair was putting a duffle bag down and taking her jacket off as Hazuki glared at her. _This is going too far. She's getting physical now. _She thought as she reassured her friends that she was okay. Reika ran to get some paper towels from the bathroom and Shikamaru was mumbling something about taking care of this.

Reika came back with a hand full of paper towels. She helped Hazuki soak up what they could from her hoodie sleeve and jeans. Everyone was really annoyed at what Temair did but they all sat in silence watching the other team start to stretch. When Konoha's team was done Suna's took their place. Kiba ran over to the group to see what happened before.

"Wow seriously. That's really messed up she could have really hurt you," Kiba looked at Hazuki.

"I know."

"So what the hell are they doing here anyway?" Ino butted in.

"So their saying something's going on with their field. Their coach asked if they could use our when we aren't since the Sports Festival is coming up soon. Long story short we are now where sharing with them. We just found out right before practice," Kiba scowled looking over his shoulder at the other team.

As the group was getting up to leave Temari made her way up to the starting line. She gave Hazuki and Shikamaru a dirty look before she took off. Hazuki was starting to have enough. _This is getting ridiculous. She really needs to cut her shit out. _Hazuki thought. As watched the other girl fly down the track. She didn't want to get physical with Temari however; she was doing a good job at pushing Hazuki to it. What Hazuki wanted to do was make a point for Temair to drop it, that she had enough of it. Temari was fast, she was definitely big on competing and she liked to win. Hazuki wondered how close a race it would be if they were to run against each other. She picture how close it would be and right at the end she would pull out in front and win. It would feel real good to beat her and maybe if Hazuki was right she could use it to her advantage. It might be a change to make her point to the other girl. _What else do I have to lose and I can at least make Kiba happy_. She thought.

Hazuki then leaned closer to Kiba. "Kiba do you still want me to join the track team?"

Kiba turned around to look at her with disbelief on his face. "Wait what really? Yes!"


	8. Chapter 8

A week before signups for the festival Hazuki was able to find out that Temari was running in the 200m so that's what Hazuki was going to do. Then due to a shortage of girls on the track team Hazuki was also running the 100m, and there was the relay race and swimming on the first day when classes competed. She needed all the practice she could get because the Sports Festival was coming up fast and she was determined to beat Temari. She started early morning runs before school then had practice after. Hazuki tried her best to stay away from Temari during practice but Temari was trying her best to get under Hazuki's skin. She started coming earlier for her practice just so she could sit in the bleachers with her group of lackeys and do her petty little things. All Hazuki wanted to do was punch her in the face but no matter how good that would feel it was better to beat her on the track. She had to be reminded of that by Kiba one day when she almost lost it. Temair commented that "She (Hazuki) must really like my sloppy seconds because now she's even trying to take my sport away from me". Hazuki saw red and started towards her. Kiba actually had to pick her up and carry her to the locker rooms because there was no other way to stop her.

Since Hazuki was also competing in swimming after track practice she would meet up with Hinata Reika who was also signed up for swimming. Hazuki was a strong swimmer but not in a competitive way and Reika could swim but she wasn't that fast. Hinata was on the swim team, good at it and was taking time to help her two friends. It didn't matter that they were going to have to compete against each other in a few weeks. Along with Hinata Hazuki and Reika weren't the only ones who were practicing like crazy, everyone else was too. If they weren't on a team and competing all three days they were at least competing on the first day. The school was even more into this year because they wanted to break Suna High's four year winning spree. Hazuki's group felt confident they had a good chance this year.

"We definitely have the track and field portions. Between Hazuki and me we can't be beat," Kiba pulled a piece of meat off the gridiron in front of him and popped it into his mouth.

"Don't get cocky. I'm fast and have been training like crazy but if you get to confident you'll mess up," Hazuki put another piece on to replace the one Kiba just took.

"That's true. I've been doing gymnastics most of my life and I'm still really nervous," Reika looked at her friends sitting around the barbeque table.

There was one week left before the festivals. Hazuki, Kiba, Reika, Choji, Shikamaru and Ino were having a late dinner at Choji's favorite barbeque.

"I don't know how you guys are doing things all three days it's such a drag. I'm only doing the Tug of War because I have to," Shikamaru leaned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head. He was full.

"It's not that bad. We get three days without school work and get to cheer on our friends," Choji stuffed meat and vegetables in his mouth.

Shikamaru just gave him a, you have to be kidding me, look causing the others to laugh. When everyone was done they split the check and headed to the train station. Hazuki, Ino, Choji and Shikamaru got off first and said goodbye to Reika and Kiba. All Hazuki wanted to do was get home, change and go for one last run before bed. She said her goodbyes to the others and went to head home but Shikamaru wouldn't let her. He wanted to play a game of Shogi. Hazuki couldn't remember the last time they played. She did want to but beating Temari was nagging in the back of her head. However, Shikamaru wouldn't give up.

"Come on you have been practicing like crazy it won't kill you to take the rest of tonight. It's already too late to go running and it's only one game," Shikamaru gave Hazuki a cheesy smile which caused her to laugh.

"Okay fine but only if you promise not to do that again and this is it. I already spent the evening out for dinner," She gave in and followed him into his house.

Since it was getting colder out the shogi table had be moved to the closed in room attacked to the back porch. They were greeted by Shikamaru's mother. Yoshino was a pretty young looking woman in her early forties. She has long brown hair pulled into a low ponytail and three small strands that framed her face.

"Shikamaru you're late again. I told you to get right home oh hello Hazuki dear," Her tone of voice changed from the normal nag Shikamaru wad used to, to a sweet nice tone that Hazuki always received.

Yoshino liked Hazuki a lot more than she did Temari and she didn't keep it a secret. The only thing was Shikamaru couldn't get her to understand that they were only friends. She would just blow him off and still insist that Hazuki call her mother. Hazuki tried to avoid calling her anything but did out of respect when she had to. There were still some things that were odd to Hazuki because she more accustomed to living in America.

They were saved by Shikamaru's father yelling for his wife to help him with something. Shikaku was also in his early forties and he looked like an older version of his son only with two scars on the right side of his face. Hazuki didn't know the real reason how he got them because every time it came up she was giving a different story and a laugh. At this point she was even sure Shikamaru didn't know, but if that was all the amusement he needed then he could have it. He also had dark eyes and dark hair pulled back into the same spiky ponytail. Shikaku would never tell his wife to leave them be because he didn't want to deal with her wrath so instead he moved her attention elsewhere. Both Shikamaru and Hazuki silently thanked him as they slipped out to the Shogi table. Hazuki really liked both of his parents but she did have to admit at times his mother really was troublesome. They both took their normal spot at the shogi table and Shikamaru started setting the pieces up.

Their one game turned into an almost three hour event. If they would have played more instead of trying to mess the other up it would have been shorter. Hazuki didn't realize how much she really did need the break. Towards the end of the game Shikamaru nonchalantly tried to cheat because there was no point in trying to take the game serious now. He wasn't good enough though because Hazuki caught him.

"Oh no I don't think so put that back right now," Hazuki pointed to where the missing piece should be.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Don't be troublesome and just play the game," Shikamaru tried to hide his smirk but was failing.

"Yes you do I saw you. I'm winning so you have to resort to cheating," Hazuki was trying to sound mad but she was having a hard time not laughing because of the way it did it.

When he thought she was lost in thought contemplating her next mood. He looked around the room carelessly and slowly put his hand on the board, pulled the piece slowly off the and into his lap.

"I'm not kidding put it back or I'll take it."

"You just try and take it," He moved the piece to the floor next to him.

Hazuki reached over the table to grab the piece when Shikamaru grabbed both her wrists and held her in place. The table between them was making it hard for her to wiggle her way out of his grasp so she walked on her knees around the table. Shikamaru was still holding firmly to her wrists as they both laughed. Hazuki was trying to break free as he tried to hold her out at a distance.

This went on for a few more minutes until Hazuki was able to get her left hand free. She lunged for the piece just as Shikamaru did and this caused them both to lose balance. Shikamaru fell backwards and since he was still holding onto Hazuki's wrist she went with him. Shikamaru landed flat on his back, Hazuki was on top of him. They stopped laughing when their faces were inched apart. As they started at each other Shikamaru debated about kissing her, but Hazuki made up his mind when she got up quick and mumbled she was sorry. Shikamaru was leaning on his elbows as she said it was late and she better get home. Then grabbed her bag and coat and headed out the door.

Shikamaru was sitting on the floor looking at the door that lead outside as his father came in to see what all the commotion was about.

"Sorry Dad we just realized what time it was and Hazuki needed to get home. She kind of rushed out."

His father didn't believe him but he nodded his head.

"How about we play a game," Shikaku sat where Hazuki was not ten minutes ago and started to reset the board.

Hazuki stopped outside her front door to gather herself. Their first kiss kept running threw her mind. She remembered how it felt and it still scared her. She didn't know why she couldn't just let go but she couldn't so she kept telling herself there was nothing there between them. He wasn't going to kiss her. She didn't want to kiss him. After so long she knew she couldn't stay outside all night so she headed inside. She greeted her grandmother then headed to her room. Later that night as she lay in bed and replayed what happened. At some point she was going to have to face how she felt but tonight wasn't the night. _I knew I should have gone for a run_. She thought covering her eyes with her arm.

Over the next week Hazuki didn't have time to worry about what happened or better yet what almost happened with Shikamaru. She was grateful for that because she didn't need any distractions right now. The Sports Festival had finally arrived. The first day of the festival had four main events Swimming, Tug of war, a Relay Race and a Kibasen (Chicken Fight). All of the classes were considered a team and identified by colored headbands they wore. A person, or persons depending on what it was, would volunteer to represent the class in one or more of the events. The winner of said event would receive points. Then at the end of the day the points would be tallied and a class from each year would be named the winner. There were also other events threw out the day like guest speakers and performances of other sports offered by the school. However, all anyone really cared about was their class winning for bragging rights and to have the trophy in their classroom until the following year.

After the speeches and announcements for the day were over the colors for the classes where giving out. Class 2A's was blue, 2B's was green, 2C was red and 2D was yellow. Swimming was the first event of the day so everyone headed to the pool. There were four different races so each class needed four swimmers two boys and two girls. Each race was a fee style once down and back and the winner would receive 10 points per race. The first race was girls and Reika just made it for the win. She beamed proudly as she joined her class. The next race was boys. It was a close call and almost a tie between Sasuke and Neji but at the end Neji came out on top. The third race was Hazuki, Hinata and Tenten. Hazuki knew she had no chance against Hinata but she was still going to try. She was struggling with the rubbery blue swim cap ready to throw it in the pool when Hinata came over and helped her. Both girls smiled and wish each other good luck. There was no race at all. Hinata won but that was no surprise. The last race was back to the boys. Naruto and Lee were going at it and they spent the time waiting to start making faces at each other and claiming they would be the winner. A boy from 2D who was on the swim team won. Like Hinata it wasn't really a race. Hazuki didn't realize how good of a swim team they actually had. The ending result of the Swimming portions was 2B leading with 20 points followed by 2A and C with 10 and last D with 0.

Hazuki changed into her track and field uniform and made her way over to the field where the Tug of War was being held. It wasn't scheduled to start for about forty-five minutes so Hazuki grabbed a bottle of water and went to find her class. They weren't hard to find with the bright blue headband on foreheads, around necks, wrists and arms. Like Sakura Hazuki worn hers on top of her head holding her bands out of her face. They were on the bleachers drinking their own bottles of water and chatting about how we were going to take the lead with the next event. Choji saved Hazuki a seat and moved over for her when he saw her walking over.

"You were good even if Hinata won," Choji smiled at her.

"Thanks but it's fine I knew I didn't have a chance. I'll really shine tomorrow when we're up against the other schools," Hazuki retuned his smile "You and Shikamaru are up next. It's your time to shine."

Shikamaru was sitting on the other side of Choji and looked around his friend to give Hazuki a dirty look, and told her she was troublesome. It was the first time since their Shogi game that they actually spoke, so he wasn't sure if what happened affected them or not. He decided that at some point they were going to need to talk about it but as long as it seemed okay that was fine for now. He just really didn't want to be doing this. If it wasn't a school rule that every student compete in at least one event he would be a lot happier. So he ended up with Tug of War because it seemed like the better of four evils.

The forty five minutes flew by and before Shikamaru knew it Choji was pulling him away as Hazuki gave him a big smile and wished him an over enthusiastic good luck. He gave her another dirty look and made a mental note to remember he owed her one. Since there were four classes the way the Tug of War was set up was two classes would compete against each other, than the two winning teams would then compete to give a final winner who then would receive 20 points. The first two classes up were 2A and 2C. 2A won solely due to Choji. The next two classes were 2B and 2D. It was close but Naruto lost his footing just long enough for the 2D to take the win. Then finally 2A and 2D were up. Hazuki didn't know you could be on the edge of your seat over a Tug of War game but she was yelling and cheering just as much as everyone else. For a while it looked like 2A was winning but at the very last second and with one good pull 2D won. Hazuki gave Choji a hug and told the team they did a good job. Score was now 2B and D with 20 points and A and C with 10.

As Hazuki was stretching for the Relay Race she was really feeling the pressure. She was the first one up and her time could make or break them. She didn't want to disappoint her class. She knew she had a pretty good chance but the one thing that worried her was Kiba was the last runner for 2B. The race had four people on a team. Like with swimming girls were up first then boys and so on. They would each pass a baton to the next runner and the team to reach the finish line first won 30 points. Hazuki felt bad when she took off knowing she left Ino and Tenten behind her but this was a completion. She reached Sasuke well before the others and he was off. As Hazuki caught her breath she watched to see how the race was going. If they kept it up this one was there's.

"I knew you were fast but I thought I would be able to at least keep up with you a little. I was way wrong," Ino managed between catching her breath.

Hazuki laughed. "All the training and practices are doing what they should."

Ino laughed and together they headed to the finish line to cheer on their team.

Hazuki's heart was in her throat as Kiba took the baton from Reika. He was training just as much as she was so she knew he was faster than when they first raced. It was so close, a few times she thought it was over but like their first race Hazuki was still just a little bit faster. 2A took the win. The score was now 2A with 40 points, B and D with 20 and C with 10. The last event the Chicken Fight could give any of the classes the win with awarding 40 point. Each team had four members. Three would carry the fourth who was wearing a bandanna. The way to defeat a team was to remove their bandanna. The team with a bandanna left was the winner.

Hazuki meet up with the friends that weren't in the fight just as it started. 2D was the first to go down. Tenten was being carried by Neji, Lee and Shino and they were really good at this. 2B was the second to go down because Kiba and Naruto couldn't stop fighting. So 2A swooped in and Sakura grabbed the bandanna off of Ino's arm.

"Sorry Ino," Sakura yelled as Choji, Sasuke and Ichiro one of the other boys in their class ran the other way.

They were doing a cat and mouse game with 2C for a while but in the end Tenten was faster than Sakura and 2C won. The ending score was 2C 50 points, 2A 40, 2B and C with 20. So not only did 2C win the last event they were the winning class.

Guy Sensei was homeroom teacher for 2C and he was crying from pride as Principle Tsunade handed him the small golden trophy. Lee was a mirror image of his mentor and Tenten elbowed him in the ribs. Hazuki and Reika quietly laughed as they watched this. Principle Tsunade closed the day with words of wisdom then told them all to go home and get rest. She wanted them to win tomorrow.

By the time Hazuki, Ino, Choji and Shikamaru made their way to their goodbye point Hazuki was exhausted, and excited. Everyone else was feeling the same way. Today everyone showed how much their training was paying off and they felt more confident about being the winning school at the end of the next two days. However, all Hazuki wanted to do at that point was crawl into bed. She knew she wasn't going to have a hard time sleeping. The next two days were going to be longer but with some luck it would be worth it if she beat Temari.


	9. Chapter 9

The following day started out like the first only it was longer because there were four schools instead of one. Konoha, Suna, Iwo and Oto High, all had three years each. There were a lot of students. It didn't seem that Konoha would be able to fit everyone but it did. There were eight events total four being held each day. The second day would finish up with naming the winning school. The principal would receive the golden trophy for their school, and it would then be put on display. Hazuki scanned the crowd for Temari with no luck. There were just too many people there. However, she did spot her grandmother, Reika's father, Shikamaru, Choji and Ino's parents standing over to the side. Hazuki nudged Reika so she could see as she tried to hide her smirk. Reika rolled her eyes when she saw her father dressed only in Konoha's colors along with face paint. He looked more suited for an American football game then a Sports Festival at a high school. You would think that Reika would be used to being embarrassed by her father but she wasn't. Hazuki was just glade her grandmother wasn't like that. However, she couldn't be sure that her own father wouldn't be doing the same if he was there.

"You know if my mother was still alive she would never let him leave the house like that," Reika whispered to Hazuki.

Just as Reika went to say something else she was interpreted by everyone clapping meaning the events were about to start. Students who weren't participating that day or not at all joined classmates and parents in the viewing areas that were set up around. Since there were so many students competing a lot of things were going at the same time. For example half way through the baseball games the swimming proposition would start and so on. Then when one grade was done with the field or gym then next grade would take over.

On the first day along with Baseball and Swimming there was also Tennis and Gymnastics. On the second was Soccer, Track and Field, Kendo and Judo. Baseball, Soccer and Tennis had one team from each school. Two teams would compete until there was only one winning team left. The winning team would receive 10 points for their school. Swimming and Track both had two events one boy and girl from each event per school. There was the backstroke and butterfly for swimming and a 100m dash and the 200m for track. Boys were against boys and girls against girls. There would be four winners for each sport. Both would receive 10 points for their school. Kendo and Judo was almost the same only there would two winners per school one boy one girl and both receiving 10 points each. Gymnastic had the most events. There was balance beam, floor exercise, and vault. Four students per school a winner per event, and like the rest the winner would receive 10 points.

Hazuki wasn't running until tomorrow so she was free to watch and cheer on her school in the other events. Baseball was up first so everyone headed towards the baseball diamond. Konoha and Oto were up first. Naruto and Sasuke were meant to play the sport and they were so in sync with one another it wasn't a surprise that they made it to the final game. Hazuki was able to find out they were going up against Suna, which Temari brother Kankuro was on the team, before she headed over to the pool with Hinata and a few others. Hinata was up first and she was flawless. She was so fast but it looked funny the way they jumped out of the water both arms simultaneously moving but that was the butterfly stroke. They made Hazuki think a flying fish. There was just enough time to watch the boys butterfly before Reika needed to warm up for her event. There was this one boy from Oto and it was as if he was born in the water. He had straight white hair that came a little below his chin and messy bangs across his forehead. His eyes were purple and he had pointed teeth with one tooth that stuck out when his mouth was closed. Hazuki later found out his name was Suigetsu Hōzuki and Hazuki didn't want to admit it but he was better than any of the boys that were on their team.

Hazuki found her grandmother and the group of parents she was with before along with a few others. She sat with them to watch Reika. After Reika changed into her leotard she came out and stood near where Hazuki was to watch the girl's balance beam before she was up. You could tell she was nervous, but relaxed a bit when she noticed Kiba make his way in and over to where Hazuki was. He gave her his cute half smile as he took a seat.

"I didn't miss it did I?" Kiba whispered to Hazuki.

"No she's in the next set. How is baseball going?"

"We were in the lead before I left. Shino is going to text me when it's over."

Hazuki nodded as it was announced that the floor exercise was going to start. Reika moved over to the area to warm up because Suna was up first and she was next. The first girl wasn't bad but Hazuki and Kiba knew Reika was better. An upbeat song started up as Reika made her way out onto the spring floor. She did a pose and a few choreographed moves before she started running and jumped into three flips. She landed right at the edge of the outline on the floor. Hazuki recently found out if you landed outside the box it was an out-of-bounds and you would lose points. Reika seemed to move flawlessly with dance elements, leaps and jumps. She made it look easy. Hazuki wondered if this is how it felt to watch her surf. Reika would always try to explain it to her but she never quite understood what she meant. Now she thought she did. Then she realized that she never actually saw Reika preform before. She was really sorry about that because that was something you really didn't want to miss.

Reika acted like no one was in the gymnasium with her but her mother. She was alive and healthy. Reika did this every time she competed and it worked. She tried to keep her mind clear of everything but her routine and her mother's voice telling her the next move. She pretended all the cheers in the background were her mothers. The only other sound was the music playing. She let the music fill her and she moved with it. She only had a few more moves and there would be no more pressure. No chance of messing up. Then all she had to do was wait and hope she was the best.

The gymnasium erupted with cheers and applauses. Reika father was the loudest and he was even doing a little dance and song that was something like 'That's my daughter. Oh yeah she's better than anyone else. She makes me so proud. Yay' and it would repeat. Hazuki was happy that Reika couldn't see or hear him because she would want to die but so far she really was the best out of everyone. When she walked off the floor Kiba pulled her into a hug and gave her a little kiss before they jointed to others to finish watching the other gymnast.

There was only one set left but Hazuki needed to head over to the tennis court to root on Sakura and Ino. She congratulated Reika again, gave her and her grandmother a hug and headed out. As Hazuki was walking through a crowd of people her phone went off. Choji was informing her that so far we won baseball, and we only won one with swimming. As she looked up from her phone she saw silver hair and a black jacket out of the corner of her eye. _No way could that asshole be here. _She thought as she looked around trying to make sure she was just seeing things. There was no sign of any Akatsuki jackets or sliver haired jerks so she continued on her way. She met up with Hinata, Naruto, Sasuke, Sai, Shikamaru, Choji and Lee. Hazuki had to do a double take when she saw Hinata and Naruto sitting next to each other. She leaned over Choji and asked Naruto what the deal was.

He leaned towards her and put his hand up to cover his mouth. "Neji's too busy with being class president that he won't notice us together." He had a devilish smile plaster across his face. "Plus he's kind of laying off of it a bit. He probable realized it's a pointless fight because I'll win."

"If you say so," Hazuki shrugged her shoulders. "Congratulations on the win Hinata."

"Thank you. I just wish I did both events. Then we could have been tied with Suna. "

"Don't worry about it there're enough events we can still win."

Both girls smiled at each other then waited for their two friends to start. Hazuki was never a fan of tennis and now she remembers why. It was pretty boring but she wanted to support her friends. She knew they would be supporting her tomorrow. The last two teams for the final were Konoha and Oto. The group figured it was in the bag because Sakura and Ino seemed undefeatable today. The only thing was this one girl from Oto. She had reddish maroon hair that was in one of the oddest hairstyles Hazuki had ever seen. It made her want to make it look normal somehow. It was short and spiky on the right side and long and straight on the left. She had crimson eyes under brown oval glasses, which she changed to spot glasses when she was playing. She was ruthless on the court. Hazuki wasn't sure but she couldn't help but notice that it looked like this girl kept watching Sasuke. _Sakura will not be happy about that if she catches you and she's only going to take it out on you when you play next_. Hazuki thought laughing to herself.

Right before the final game was starting Reika, Kiba and Shino showed up. Reika won her set but the win for gymnastic went to Oto. Everyone still congratulated her and Hazuki even told her how she now knew what she meant when she talked about her surfing and both girls laughed. Tennis stopped being boring when it was the final game. Everyone was on the edge of their seat because it was a very close game. Any little slip up could mean a win for the other team. It looked like Konoha was going to have that win but at last minute the girl from Oto whose name was Karin scored one finally score. Konoha lost by only one point. It was one of the biggest disappointments of the day. Hazuki caught the Karin girl watching Sasuke again and this time she was sure she was. _Well at least she'll only be here tomorrow. No use in getting Sakura worked up more than she already is._ Hazuki thought as she followed the rest of the group to get the end score for the day.

Principal Tsunade announced the ending scores for the first day. Hazuki and her group crossed their fingers and hoped for the best.

"The final score for today is…Konoha is in the lead with 50points." Everyone started to cheer. Tsunade had to get them settled down so she could continue. "Konoha is followed by Suna with 40 points, Oto with 30 points and Iwo with 20 points. Congratulations to all who participated today you all did amazing jobs and did your schools proud. And for the participants for tomorrow good luck, I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring."

Slowly the school emptied out. Hazuki, Ino, Shikamaru and Choji said goodbye to the others and started on the short walk home. Choji talked excitedly about the day's event. Shikamaru could care less but he still took an interest because it was Choji. Ino was still bummed about losing and Hazuki was really starting to feel nervous about tomorrow. She tried to find Temari to keep an eye on her but it was like she wasn't there. That bothered Hazuki because she felt like Temari was planning something. She was so lost in thought that Shikamaru almost had to shake her when they got to the goodbye spot.

"Sorry guys lost in thought," She looked at her three friends.

They then all said their goodbyes and head home_. Tomorrow is going to be a bigger day than today was. I hope I'm ready._ Hazuki thought walking threw her front door.

The next day Hazuki couldn't even eat she was so nervous. Her grandmother made her take an apple, told her she was going to do great and she would see her at the school in a little bit. She met up with Ino, Choji and Shikamaru and they headed to school.

"You didn't eat anything yet did you?" Shikamaru pointed to the apple in Hazuki's hand.

"No. I'm too nervous."

"You need to eat or you won't make it," Shikamaru gave her a look.

"You're doing both races eat the apple at least," Choji looked at her concerned.

Ino just nodded her agreement; Hazuki was outnumbered so she sighed and forced the apple down.

There weren't as many announcements as the first day and it didn't take long for the day's events to start. Soccer was first and Lee was so happy that it was finally his time to shine. Before Konoha and Iwo took the field Lee and Guy Sensei were doing some weird prayer that ended with them both crying as they hugged and Guy telling Lee how proud he was of him no matter if he won or lose, but he should really do his best to win. _I'm never going to get used to them_. Hazuki thought as she along with half the crowed watched the odd scene. By the time the first set of gamed where over Hazuki had to head over to the track field.

As Hazuki stretched her nervousness was only growing. _If you don't get a grip you'll never beat Temari._ She thought as she bent down and touched her toes. _Just breath you got this._ Kiba came over to her to tell her there was no way she didn't have both races under her belt. She laughed him off as she headed towards the starting line. She noticed her grandmother in the bleachers but only because Reika's father was in the same getup as yesterday. _Oh please God don't let him do a dance if I win_. Hazuki thought as she got into position on the starting block. She then cleared her mind and focused as she waited for the gun to go off starting the race. After the boom went off so did the four girls. Hazuki had a good start. The cool wind whipped though her hair. At the midpoint she was at full speed. There was no one next to her. _I really do have this._ She thought as she started to slow because the finish line was coming up. This was her mistake. She couldn't prove it but at the last minute there was a blinding light in her eyes which blocked out all sight, and she knew it was Temari. It made her stop as her eyes burned. It felt like she was going to be blind. Once she got her sight back she started up again but it was too late she crossed the finish line last. She looked around and found Temari smirking at her across the field, her cellphone in her hand. _That bitch!_ Hazuki thought as she started to head towards her. Mr. Hagane one of the sectaries was also the Track and Field coach, saw what happened and stopped Hazuki by grabbing her around the waist and pulling her in the other direction.

"I saw what she did. Unfortunately we can't prove it, and I have seen what she's been doing at practices. I don't know what the beef between you two is, but you going after her is only going to make it worse on you. Get your head in the race; you're up again after this next one. Beat her out there," Mr. Hagane pointed to the track. Hazuki didn't think the man as capable of saying something so meaningful. So Hazuki just nodded as she tried to calm down.

Mr. Hagane wasn't the only one who saw what Temari did. As soon as Hazuki put her hands to her face Shikamaru knew what was going on. It didn't take him long to find his smug ex moving her phone this way and that to make a beam of light to blind Hazuki. _She seriously is going that far. This is enough._ Shikamaru thought as he started to get up. Choji stopped him.

"You'll only make it worse on her and there up next," Choji also caught on with what happened.

Shikamaru angrily sat back down and crossed his arms over his chest.

Again Hazuki started to stretch. She had a harder time trying to clear her mind because all she wanted to do was rip Temari's throat out. Both girls glared at each other as they took their places on the starting block. Hazuki looked straight ahead of her took a few deep breathes and cleared her mind. _This is it. The whole reason you busted your ass with all that training. You have to win after that stunt. Focus and run as fast as you ever have._ She told herself. After a few more minutes the familiar boom from the gun sounded and Hazuki didn't waste any time. After she made the turn she was off. She wasn't paying any attention to what was going on around her. The cheers of her friends sounded far away. Hazuki could only hear the pounding of her heart and her feet on the track. She didn't see anything but the finish line ahead of her. The wind licked at her face and the coolness of it felt good on her heated skin. Then she noticed blonde out of the corner of her eye. Temari was catching up to her. _I don't think so._ Hazuki thought as she pumped her legs harder but so did Temari. The finish line was right there. All Hazuki had to do was get there first. With one last effort she pushed just a little harder and at the last second she crossed the finish line just ahead of Temari.

As Hazuki slowed down her legs felt like jelly so she went down on her knees. She put her hands on the ground in front of her as she caught her breath. She couldn't believe she actually did it, and the feeling was better than she ever thought it would be. After a minute Kiba made his way over to her and helped her up. As she looked around for Temair Kiba whispered that she should have seen Temari's face it was priceless. She finally found her sulking by her other team mates while they told her she did a good job. She shot daggers at Hazuki as she walked past her and Hazuki just threw her a cocky smirk. Hazuki could hear her friends cheering from the bleachers and where their team was gathered was her grandmother. She hugged her tight and told her how proud she was of her, before she headed back to the stands where Reika's father was and he was indeed doing a dance for her.

The next race was Kiba's. He flew down the track like Hazuki knew he would. His race was about as close as Hazuki's and like her he came out on top. Konoha won Track and Field. When the event was over their group of friends came out onto the field to congratulate both Hazuki and Kiba. Kiba kept bragging about how he knew they would win. After what seemed like a hug from everyone Hazuki noticed that Shikamaru wasn't there. She found Choji and asked him but all he did was shrug his shoulders. However, he did know where his best friend was he just didn't think it was a good idea for Hazuki to know. While Hazuki and Kiba went to get changed the others headed to the gym for the last two events.

It didn't take Shikamaru long to find Temari. She was with a few friends laughing about something. He tried to contain his anger but just seeing her acting like nothing pissed him off more. He walked over to her and roughly grabbed her arm.

"We need to talk now," He pulled her away from her friends and the sea of people around.

She pulled her arm out of his grasp. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What the hell am I doing, what the hell are you doing?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Temari crossed her arms over her chest.

"Don't play dumb you know exactly what I'm talking about and enough already. Somebody is going to get hurt. "

"Oh but it's okay that I got hurt but you're like a knight in fucking shining armor for her!" Temari yelled at him.

"You act like I wasn't hurt either and Hazuki has nothing to do with what happened between us get that threw your head already! This has gone on long enough!" He yelled back.

People starter looking at them and starting a scene was the last thing Shikamaru wanted.

"Just stop Temari please," Shikamaru said sounding almost defeated.

"It's over she's not worth my time and neither as you." She sneered then walked away.

Hazuki knew she took longer than she should have but she was still in a happy daze about winning. As she headed out the door she threw her hoodie on. She stopped in her tacks when she heard the last voice she wanted to hear.

"You sure can move Lover. I saw what that bitch did blinding you. If you want I can have her taken care of," Hindan was leaning against the wall opposite of the locker room doors. He looked like he was waiting for her.

He was almost wearing the same thing as their first encounter only he had a black t-shirt under his jacket. Hazuki was right she did see him the yesterday.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Hazuki didn't want him to ruin her happy moment.

"There's that feistiness I love about you, and I'm here to see you," Hidan moved away from the wall and took a step towards her.

"Boy are you wasting your time," Hazuki laughed as she started to walk away.

In one quick movement Hidan grabbed her arm, pulled her towards him then had her against the wall his hands were like iron grips on her writs pinning her to the wall.

"This time there's no one to distract me," He whispered in her ear. Hazuki could feel his warm breath on her neck.

She was trying to come up with a way to get him off of her. He was a lot bigger and stronger. He could do whatever he wanted but Hazuki had every intention of putting up a good fight.

"Maybe you were able to ditch your girlfriend but when I don't show up in the next few minutes my friends are going to come and look for me," Hazuki almost hissed the words at him. She didn't want him to know that he intimidated her in anyway.

"You're so cute. What makes you think they will find us? I could have us out of here in seconds if I wanted," He smirked looking right into her eyes.

Their faces were inches away from each other. Hazuki knew if she didn't react soon he was going to do something she wasn't going to like. She could see the lust in his eyes and that kind of scared her.

"Get the fuck away from her!" Both Hidan and Hazuki looked towards the voice.

Hazuki was in shock when she saw Shikamaru standing a few feet away. His fists were balled at his sides, a look of complete hatred was written all over his face.

Hidan didn't move his smirk only got wider. "Well, well if it isn't little Asuma junior. Are you still mad over his death and come to avenge him or wait is this your girlfriend?" He laughed. "Now I see well sorry to break it to you but she wants a real man."

"You're not allowed to say his name and you better let Hazuki go Hidan," Shikamaru whole body shook with anger. Hazuki had never seen him this mad before. He looked like a caged animal just wanting to break through its cage and tear its captors to pieces.

Hidan wasn't paying much attention to Hazuki so she took the moment to bring her knee up as hard as she could into his groin. In an instance he fell to the ground holding himself as he made moans and groans. Shikamaru closed the space between then, grabbed her hand and put her behind him. Hazuki could tell at any moment Shikamaru was going to lung at Hidan.

Hidan started to laugh. "Just wait Lover your luck will run out and no one will be around to interrupt us," He slowly got up adjusted his jacket.

Shikamaru went to make a go at Hidan but Hazuki grabbed hold of his arm.

"He's not worth it. Let's go," Hazuki tried pulling him in the direction of the gymnasium.

That made Hidan laugh harder but he turned on his heels and started heading in the other direction. He had his fun for now.

After a few minutes Shikamaru started to calm down and they started the short walk to the gym. He looked at Hazuki. She was trying to act like she was fine but he could tell she was shaken up. How could he be such as ass? Hazuki was the one who was attacked. He stopped walking.

"Are you okay? He didn't do anything did he?" Shikamaru s gave her a once over.

"I'm fine but what about you? Is he the one who killed your godfather?"

Shikamaru nodded. "I'm fine I just really hate him," He turned his face away from her.

She looked over at him. "Thanks for saving me."

He just blew it off and started walking again.

"What were you doing over that way?"

Shikamaru didn't know how to answer. He didn't want her to know what he was doing. So he made up a small lie about trying to find a bathroom as they entered the gymnasium.

As Hazuki sat with the rest of her friends she was really starting to feel the events of the day. First Temari with her bullshit, then seeing Hidan again and she was pretty sure Shikamaru just lied to her he wasn't a good liar. The good feeling from winning was a distance memory. She was lost in her head trying to go over everything so she was half paid attention to the Kendo and then the Judo completions. Reika even had to tell her twice that they won soccer. Like a lot of the other events it was close. On Oto's team there was a tall muscular boy with orange spiky hair and red orange eyes. He was like a tank, but Lee was faster and made the winning goal. Both Tenten and Neji won in Kendo so Konoha took the win, but Neji lost to Temari's younger brother Gaara in Judo. Hazuki didn't think any one was better than Neji but Gaara proved her wrong.

Again Principal Tsunade was the one to make the ending speeches and announce who was the winning school for this year was. Her face showed no hint of what the results would be as she cleared her throat.

"Before I announce the final scores I want everyone here to be proud of what they have done. I have never seen such close games and competitions in a very long time. Now for what everyone is waiting for. The ending score is Oto High with 50 points, Iwo High with 40 points, Suna High with 70 points and Konoha High wins with 80 points."

Everyone from Konoha cheered, hugged and some cried. It was a long time overdue. Konoha was finally able to break Suna's winning streak. Tsunade took the golden trophy from the Principal of Suna. Then after a few more speeches and celebrating it was over. It was almost bittersweet. Weeks and weeks of training, getting nervous before an event and in the matter of three days it's all over. So the next few weeks were going to seem uneventful. However, Hazuki was wrong.

With being so preoccupied with the Sports Festival, everything with Temari, Hidan and Shikamaru. Hazuki completely forgot what time of the year it was. Halloween was just around the corner. It was her favorite holiday for as long as she could remember. She felt lucky growing up in American because Halloween is mostly a western holiday and was just starting to become big in Japan. Things were done a little different, like there wasn't any Trick-or-Treating but there were lots of parties, festivals and parades to go to. So she felt there was enough ghosty stuff for her to get her fill. She even jumped out of her chair and yelled yay when Ms. Mitarashi announced they were doing a Halloween Festival. Hazuki apologized when she gave her a look and she sat back down. She hit Choji only because he was closest to her and flashed the others a dirty look as they quietly laughed. Ms. Mitarashi was Hazuki's homeroom teacher and she was an awesome teacher but in ways worse than Mr. Hatake. The woman was in her mid-twenties with light brown eyes and blue tinted black hair pulled back into a high spiky ponytail which fanned out. She had bangs pushed over to the right and longer pieces that framed her face.

Once Ms. Mitarashi had the classes' attention again she explained that the second years were doing events for the first and third years. There would be a draw for what theme each class's event and costumes would be. The events themselves didn't change. 2A was always some sort of food like vendor, 2B was some kind of show and 2C was something haunted. All of the students were encouraged to put in an idea for what theme each class would have. The suggestions needed to be in before lunch and by the end of the day they would have an answer. So over the next two weeks at the end of each day they were giving time to work on what they needed to for the festival. Hazuki was excited but bummed that she wasn't in the class for something haunted, but she hoped they would at least get a good theme to dress up as. This was the only costume she was getting this year so she wanted a good one.

At the end of the day Ms. Mitarashi announced what each classes theme was. Then she would draw named from a hat to see what each person in class would do. She handed out little pieces of white paper and everyone wrote their name on it. Once she had all the names gathered she dropped them into green top hat that was badly stitched together and random patches of material was placed here and there.

"Okay now listen up. This year for the Halloween Festival class 2A theme will be _Alice in Wonderland _and the character some of you are going to be portraying is obviously Alice, the White Rabbit, the Blue Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts. So now let's throw ideas around about what you want to do then we can vote," Ms. Mitarashi looked out at her classroom full of students.

Now Hazuki understood the hat for the names. _Why didn't I catch that before?_ She thought.

It wasn't a brainer what they should do so it didn't take long to decide on a teashop with different kinds of sweets. Hazuki knew where Reika would be spending most of her time during the festival. The first names drawn from the hat were for the charters. Ms. Mitarashi wrote the charters name on the black board then started pulling names. Hazuki really wanted to be the Mad Hatter. She was silently pleating to get him as Ms. Mitarashi pulled a piece of paper from the hat.

"Alice will be portrayed by…Hazuki," Ms. Mitarashi looked at her.

Hazuki tried not to pout and nodded to her teacher instead. She cursed in her head as a few other girls made disappointing sounds. _Trust me you could have her if you want. I don't want to be stuck in a dress or the main character._ She mentally told the other girl while Ms. Mitarashi continued down the list. Choji was going to be the White Rabbit, Sasuke the Blue Caterpillar, Sakura was the Queen of Hearts which she was pleased about, and Shikamaru was the Mad Hatter. He seemed to be just as enthused as Hazuki was. She wondered if he would trade with her. She then had to cover up a laugh when she mentally pictured Shikamaru in a light blue lacey Alice dress, accompanied by stockings and a blue bow in his hair. Choji looked over at her to see what was wrong. She just shook her head and mouthed nothing.

Oh the walk home from school Ino complained the entire time. Each class did the same name and hat thing and 2B was doing _Peter Pan_. Ino was stuck with John and she wasn't happy about it.

"I have to be a boy. Wear boy pajamas and a stupid top hat," Ino wined.

It took a little bit but Hazuki was able to find out that Hinata was Wendy, Reika Tinker Bell, Naruto Peter Pan and Kiba Michael. Ino also heard from Sai that 2C was doing Robin Hood. He was Will Scarlet, Neji was Robin Hood, Tenten was Maid Marian, Lee was Little John and Shino was Friar Tuck. _Oh this is going to be amusing._ Hazuki though.

Over the next week a few things happened alone with getting things ready for Halloween. First like Naruto claimed Neji really was letting up on the whole him and Hinata thing. You could tell he still wasn't happy about the paring but he didn't like seeing Hinata upset. All the tensions between them was gone and that was good for everyone. It was nice having the whole group back together again. Then Neji and Tenten finally admitted that they were indeed together. No one was surprised just felt that it was way overdue and Reika and Kiba had their first fight. Neither of them would say what it was about and they wouldn't speak to each other. However, by the end of the week it was over and they acted like it didn't even happen.

Hazuki woke up a little earlier than normal Halloween day. There was the fact that it was Halloween, then the festival at school and after that the night was going to be spent at Naruto's watching scary movies and eating a lot of junk food. She did give up her morning runs during the week, but kept them up over the weekend. Even with the Sports Festival being over she was still on the tack team. With the extra time she had she made sure her costume was good and ready to go. She still wasn't thrilled about being Alice but it could have been worse. She than had breakfast with her grandmother, helped cleaning up and it was time to meet Ino, Choji and Shikamaru.

The school was buzzing with excitement of not having classes, all the sweets to be eaten and scaring that would come. Everyone wearing a costume looked amazing. Hazuki was wearing a light blue dress that reached her knees. The top was corset like with a row of buttons down the middle. The sleeves were short and puffy. She also wore black and white striped stocking and fingerless gloves. On top of her head was a blue headband with a bow attacked to it. She looked the part all dressed up but all she wanted to do was take the pantyhose and dress off. She would have been fine in any of the boy's costumes even with their layers. Choji was wearing a white button down shirt under a tan fest and maroon tie. His pants were the same maroon as the tie. He had an old looking pocket watch in the right vest pocket and two white bunny ears on the top of his head. Sasuke was wearing something similar only in different shades of blue and a dark blue coat. He had a blue butterfly pin on the tie and a blue hookah on a rope across his chest along with to hose and mouthpiece. Shikamaru had the green hat Ms. Mitarashi used to pull the names from only a maroon ribbon was tied around the base with the 'In this style 10/6' card and a few random pins with beads on them. His jacket was a blue green lined in gold over a light green vest and white shirt with the collar up. The tie around his neck was yellow and his pants were maroon and striped. However, Sakura looked the best. The many layered skirts in black, reds, and checker billowed around her. The top part was red and also corset like with puffy long sleeves. There were random hearts place in just the right spots and a golden, red and black crown sat on top of her head. She put a lot of work into and you could tell. Hazuki liked her costume, it looked good but Sakura's made hers look plan and boring.

Since 2B was dressing up as _Peter Pan_ it only made since to do the play. They didn't have enough time to do the whole story so they shorten it down to the basics so they would be able to do it a few times in the day. Their costumes also came out great. Naruto was wearing a long green shirt with a brown belt around his waist and another across his chest. He was also wearing a green leotard that he kept pulling out certain parts and complaining the whole time. It was rather amusing to watch. Reika was wearing a dress that looked like it was made out of bright green leafs and kept together with vines. Her wings were glittery and semi see-through. Hinata was wearing a long white nightgown with blue ribbon under the interknit designed bust and the end of the puffy short sleeves. Ino was in a white and green striped button down shirt and matching pants pajama set. A black top hat sat on top of her head and she was still miserable about being John. Other than Naruto Kiba was the funniest of all. He was wearing an old red one-piece footed pajamas a butt flap and all. He looked more miserable then Naruto and Ino together. Hazuki was defiantly trying to make it for at least some of their play before the festival ended. She just had to see Naruto and Kiba once Reika sent her a picture of the two of them both pulling on their crotches trying to give themselves more room, weird looks on their faces.

Class 2C decided on a haunted Sherwood Forest since they were _Robin Hood_. Neji was wearing a dark green hooded cloak over a brown tunic, white shirt and brown pants. Tenten looked the oddest. Not in a bad way just that her hair was down and she was wearing a light blue dress under a green blue shorter dress. She also had a light green wrap like thing around her neck and shoulders. Lee was dressed in tunic in a darker shade of brown with a long brown vest over it and again brown pants. Sai was also wearing a tunic shirt and pants in different shades of brown. All of them had brown belts around their waist. Shino was dressed in brown robes of a friar. He had a white robe tied around his waist. They all looked like they should have been on a set for a movie.

Everyone was running around like crazy. The two other grades would be allowed onto their floor at about ten and that gave them about two hours to get ready. It didn't seem like they would make it but as the time got closer and closer everything started to fall into place. All three classes were excited and nervous at the same time and by ten they were all ready for the fun to begin. It was hard to believe that the rooms were class rooms before with the way they were decorated. Sherwood Forest really looked like a forest, besides for the ghosts and ghouls that would jump out here and there. Or the spider webs you would find yourself stuck in. There was even fog that was floating out into the hall. Reika's class really looked like a play house with red curtains and everything. They had mosaics of senses from the book placed on the walls and were even handing out tickets for it. And last the tea shop really looked like you were at a tea party being hosted by the Mad Hatter himself. Only there were random tables and chairs here and there, instead of a few random ones put together to make one.

Each class was packed once the others were there. Screams and laughter filled the floor as students made their way through the haunted forest, enjoyed _Peter Pan_ or had tea with the White Rabbit. All the classed did a good job at keeping in character and everyone was really enjoying themselves. Some of the teachers were even dressed up and participated in the events. Hazuki and the others would take turns standing outside to draw people in, serving tables or just walking around being whoever they were dressed up as. Like Hazuki thought Reika made random quick stop over to Alice's Mad Hatter Tea Shop to say hi and grab something sweet then head back over to her class for the next show.

It was so busy that before you knew it, it was time to start cleaning up. Hazuki did get her change to witness Naruto and Kiba which was better than she expected. There was even time for Reika, Kiba and Choji to run through the haunted forest. I few times Hazuki jumped and it was Choji that she grabbed onto. He would just laugh and by the end of it she was gripping his hand so tight it was turning white. It took a lot to scare her so Neji's class did their job very well. Reika on the other hand didn't see a thing due to the fact that she had her head buried in Kiba's back and his arm twisted around so she was still holding it.

After school like planed everyone headed over to Naruto's. Jiraiya was really into the holiday because the house looked like a set of a haunt house movie. The front door was opened up a crack, fog was seeping out and eerie music floated into the darkening sky. Naruto, Kiba and Lee being the big tough guys that they were went it first to get Jiraiya before he got them. Within ten minutes all three were running back outside screaming like little girls Jiraiya close behind with a flashlight under his chin giving his face a creepy look. Once the boys calmed down Jiraiya asked everyone to come in, in his version of a Dracula voice which wasn't very good. The inside of the house was decorated just as much as the outside and you had to be aware because something could jump out at you at any moment. However, the group made it down to the basement in one piece. In the basement Jiraiya had the bar littered with any type of junk food and candy that you could think of. He also made a red punch which had grapes floating in it for eyes. While everyone grabbed something good to munch on Naruto put the first movie of the night on. Everyone gathered around the TV waiting for the movie to start. In total there were four movies watched and so much junk food eaten no one wanted to even look at anything sweet for a while.

It was late but Jiraiya gave everyone a ride home. Like always Hazuki, Ino, Choji and Shikamaru were the last to be dropped off. The group was exhausted and crashing from the sugar high. Each one looked like a zombie getting out of the car and stumbling into their house. Hazuki tried to make her way to her room without waking her grandmother up. She made it to her room and didn't even get undressed when she laid across her bed and fell right to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

The next day started off like any normal day. However, right before lunch the last person anyone thought would walk through the door did. The girl from Oto named Karin stood in front of the class with a sly smile on her face. She was wearing a Konoha uniform .Hazuki was chewing on her pen cap and almost swallowed it when she looked up and saw the girl. Choji asked if she was okay and she nodded as she coughed. You could hear the sound of some of the class whispering to each other as Karin scanned the room her eyes landing on Sasuke. _Seriously it's going to be like this?_ Hazuki thought as Ms. Mitarashi announced the new student and asked her to introduce herself. Sakura looked over at Hazuki with a look of disgusted plastered on her face. Hazuki rolled her eyes in response and both girls laughed quietly. _This is going to be a wonderful. _She thought as Karin took a seat towards the front of the class and Ms. Mitarashi went back to the lesson.

At lunch Hazuki and the others gathered at their usual lunch spot. Everyone had a lot to say because along with Karin being in 2A, the boy Suigetsu from the swim team was in 2B and another boy named Jugo was in 2C. He was the one that Lee was up against at the soccer game during the sports festival. The three of them sat a little bit away from their group and would occasionally look in their direction while they whispered to each other. They seemed to keep to themselves and didn't want anything to do with anyone else. However, Hazuki had a bad feeling.

"What's their deal? They don't want to socialize with anyone. I tried to talk to that white haired jerk and all he did is smirk at me and walk away," Kiba scowled.

"And all they do is glare at us," Naruto also scowled in their direction but the look on his face was more amusing then a look of anger.

"Well we did go against them in the sports festival maybe their unsure how we'll be towards them," Reika said in between bites of her bento box. "I mean it wasn't that long ago either."

"I'm not sure if that's the case here Reika. I tried to talk to the girl in the bathroom and she pretty much stuck her nose up at me and walked away. I think we should just let them be," Tenten took a bite of the rice ball in her hand.

"I agree. If they want to keep to themselves then we should just let them. There not doing anything to us," Hazuki looked around at her friends.

Everyone agreed with her. She was relieved that no one else brought up the way Karin was looking at Sasuke. _Maybe I'm just being paranoid and she's just looking. This is Japan I'm not in the US. Girls are different here. _ She thought as they finished their lunch and headed back into the school.

The rest of the week went pretty much the same way as the first day. The three new students still kept their distance and continued glaring at the group. Karin was still watching Sasuke but so far she didn't even attempt to talk to him. Hazuki was still keeping an eye on her just in case.

One day after Shikamaru and Choji were heading into their house Ino grabbed Hazuki's arm. "I have to talk to you." She whispered.

"Okay but what's with the whispering. There's no one around," Hazuki whispered back with a laugh.

"I don't know." Ino let go of Hazuki's arm as she spoke in a normal tone. "I don't want anyone to hear."

Hazuki nodded and Ino followed her inside her house. She had no clue what Ino wanted to talk about because she didn't seem upset or anything. They greeted Mameha then headed down the hall to Hazuki's room. Ino threw her bag onto the floor before she plopped onto the bed as Hazuki closed the door and headed towards her desk. She placed her bag by her floor and pulled the desk chair out to sit on it.

"So what's up?" Hazuki asked.

"Sakura hasn't noticed yet but I know you've seen it too. What's that Karin girls deal with Sasuke? And what are we going to do?" Ino said it matter-of-factly as she looked at Hazuki.

"Oh that. Yeah I noticed it back at the sports festival. I didn't think she would transfer here so I didn't say anything. And I really don't think we can do anything at this point. She hasn't done anything that pretty much every girl in school doesn't do," Hazuki could see the annoyance on Ino's face.

"I know you're right but seriously? I mean I know Sasuke popular and has his own fan girls but she's different. I feel like she's scheming." Ino then looked worried. "I don't want her to hurt Sakura in anyway she's one of my oldest friends."

"I get the same feeling from her that's why I've been watching her. I don't want Sakura hurt either. So I think we keep doing what we've been doing and wait for her to make a move. Once she does then we'll handle it."

"I guess that's all we can do. Not that I want to lie to Sakura but I don't think we should bring this up to her."

"I feel the same. We both know how she is," Both shuddered at the thought of what Karin would look like after Sakura was done with her.

Since business was done and over with they moved the conversation to happier things. Ino stayed until dinner time then headed home before he dad would be out looking for her. Hazuki walked her to the door then joined her grandmother in the kitchen to help with dinner.

That weekend the boys made plans to go over to Naruto's and spend all day doing boy things so the girls decided to go to the movies and have a girls day. Exams were coming up again so they wanted to get some fun in before everyone was going to be busy studying. The girls all met up around 1ish at the movie theaters. They were having a special showing of the last two movies of _Harry Potter_. Even though both movies had been out for a while and Hazuki had seen them both she didn't get a chance to see them on the big screen. There wasn't really anything else good in so they deiced on that. They all got popcorn, churritos and a few other snacks before they headed into the auditorium. It had been a long time since Hazuki was in a Japanese movie theater and she forgot how much clearer they were then the ones in the US, but they both looked the same in appearance. Red carpets, concession stand, bright neon lights and movie posters everywhere. The seats in the auditorium were red and black fluffy and comfortable. There were a few previews of upcoming movies that Hazuki wanted to see so she mental notes to try and remember them.

After the movie was over they decided to go for an early dinner and then a little shopping. For dinner they agreed on barbecue. They talked about the movie on the short walk to the restaurant. Reika was sniffling about the characters that died especially Hedwig because of owls being her favorite animal. They were seated at on booth towards the back and on the right wall. The place was new and had gold dividers on the half wall the boot was attached to give some privacy for both tables. The booth seats were a dark maroon and the table and accents were in a lighter wood. Reika was on one end with Hinata next to her. Sakura and Ino were in the middle Tenten was next to Ino and Hazuki was on the other end opposite to Reika. They chatted about school and the guys. Again everyone ganged up on Hazuki about liking someone because she was now the only one in the group who didn't have a boyfriend.

"Guys really I'm good in that aspect. I don't have the time for a boyfriend with school, track and everything," Hazuki really hated when this subject came up. She wished they would give it up already.

"But you spend a lot of time with Shikamaru and Choji. You have to like one of them." Sakura took a bite out of a piece of meat.

"I'd put my money on Shikamaru. Remember the cave during the summer," Ino nudged Sakura.

"Oh that's true and you still haven't told us what really happened." Sakura looked at Hazuki and gave her a wide smile.

Hazuki rolled her eyes and stopped paying attention as the others continued teasing her and going back and forth on if she liked Shikamaru or Choji. She was lost in thought when a voice she didn't want to hear brought her back to the present.

"She doesn't like either of them because she's lusting for me," Hidan appeared out of thin air.

He pushed his way next to Hazuki in the booth. The girls all sneered at the unwanted guest and Hazuki had to stop herself from jabbing her chopstick into his eye as she looked over at him.

"What hell do you want now?" I growled at him.

"I've missed you lover. How long as it been since I've seen you," he said leaning close to her like he was going to kiss her as he placed his hand on her thigh. He was slowly moving his fingers lightly up the inside seam of her jeans.

Ino and Sakura looked like they were going to jump over the table at him. While Reika grabbed the spatula from the griddle and looked like she was going to throw it at him or something along those lines. However, before anyone had a change to do anything Hazuki shoved him as hard as she could. He slid off the booth and landed hard on the floor. The girls busted out laughing as other people around looked at them to see what was going on.

"Come on Hidan let's go. You're wasting your time and we have better things to do," Said a guy wearing the same coat as Hidan. He was trying to hide the smirk plastered across his face.

Hazuki remembered him from the festival. He was tall, muscular and tan. He had long dark brown hair and unusual green colored eyes. There were stich tattoos over his face and chest. He would have been attractive if he wasn't tattooed like that and if he wasn't with Hidan.

Hidan's face was bright red and you could tell he was pissed off. He sneered as picked himself off the floor and leaned close to Hazuki's ear. "This is getting really old lover and I'm only going to take so much before I just do what I want. No matter where we are or who's around." He then turned to his friend. "Let's go Kakazu." And just like they appeared they were gone.

The girls started laughing again but not as loud as before.

"That was so cool," Ino laughed.

"It really was but Hazuki are you okay?" Reika realized she was still holding spatula so she put it down as Hazuki nodded.

"But Since when are you on first name terms with an Akatsuki member and what did he whisper into your ear?" Ino asked.

"We're really not. I just keep running into him since the firework festival. When I went to get cotton candy for my gram he showed up behind me and then he was waiting for me outside the locker rooms at the sports festival," Hazuki went into all the details about Hidan.

"What a creep. He's how old and he's going after a high-schooler," Ino balled her hands into fits.

"You need to go to the police. It seems like it's getting worse," Reika said concerned as the others agreed.

"I'm fine. I can take care of myself. He doesn't scare me. "

The subject was dropped when they realize Hazuki wasn't budging like with the whole boyfriend thing. When they finished eating they spilt the bill and headed to out for some shopping.

It was around 6ish when they headed towards the train station. They each said goodbye as they arrived at each of their stop. Like normal Hazuki and Ino were last but this time Reika was with them because she was spending the night at Hazuki's.

Around the same time Choji and Shikamaru were on their way home from the day wasted on video games and junk food at Naruto's. Their conversation was mostly about new games and movies, than it slowly moved to girls. Choji finally got up the nerve to talk to Shikamaru about how he felt about Hazuki. Christmas was coming up and he wanted to ask her to go out with him but he needed to know for sure how Shikamaru felt. So he slowly moved the conversation to her.

"So," Choji started. "I've been meaning to talk to you about this but I couldn't seem to find the right way to bring it up."

As they stepped off the train Shikamaru lit a cigarette and looked at his friend waiting for him to continue. Shikamaru had a feeling what was coming next, and he really wasn't ready to have this conversation.

"Do you like Hazuki?" Choji just blurted the words out and he could feel his face start to turn red. He was afraid of Shikamaru's answer even thought he had a pretty good idea what it would be.

Yes Shikamaru did and he could finally admit it to himself, but he wanted Choji to be happy. How troublesome it was liking the same girl as his best friend. So how could he tell Choji that he liked her too? He hated lying but what other chose did he have.

"No. She's way too troublesome. Why?" Shikamaru looked away as he took another drag of his cigarette and watched Choji's body language.

Choji looked away and started scratching the back of his head. He could feel his face getting warmer. "I've liked her for a while now, but I had a feeling you did too. So I didn't want to say anything. Are you sure you don't? Because if you do just say so and we can act like this never happened. Really it's fine."

"Choji stop. I don't like her like that. I don't know how she feels so the only way to find out is to ask her." Every word was a stabbing pain in his gut. He felt horrible for more than one reason.

As they headed home Shikamaru acted like everything was fine, but all he could think about was Hazuki and Choji being together. It bothered him more than when he witnessed them kiss during the summer. He kept pushing down hoping that she wouldn't feel the same, which only made him feel even more rotten. Then out of nowhere he heard someone calling Choji's and his name. As they both turned around Ino, Reika and Hazuki were headed towards them. _Seriously she had to show up right now?!_ He thought as he looked over at Choji. Choji's face was bright red again but as the girls met up with them his coloring was back to normal.

As all five of them started walking Ino put her arm around Shikamaru's shoulder. "So how was your boy's day out?" She asked looking back and forth between the two boys.

Shikamaru just gave her an annoyed look while Choji told her they had fun. It didn't take long to get the goodbye spot but it felt like forever to Shikamaru. Hazuki noticed that Shikamaru wouldn't look at her and she spoke to him. _What the hell is his deal? I can't take another of his moods again. _She thought as they all said goodbye and Reika followed her into the house. Too much had gone on today that she didn't have the motivation to think too much on it so she pushed it to the back of her mind.

Hazuki pulled out a bedroll for Reika and gave her pillows and a blanket. They both changed into pajamas and sat on Hazuki's bed. They found something amusing to watch and chatted like girls tend to do while they painted their nails.

"Today was amusing. Are you sure you're okay with what that creep showing up?" Reika asked as she painted her toenails a bright green.

"Yeah I'm fine. I don't know how I keep running into him its getting annoying," Hazuki rolled her eyes. Which caused Reika to laugh and instead of just painting her nail she painted almost the whole toe.

"Dammit."

Hazuki handed her the nail polish remover and a napkin as she laughed.

"I bet it is. So hum can I ask you a personal question?" Reika wiped green off of her toe as her face became red. "Are you still…you know….a virgin?"

It was Hazuki's turn to turn red and she almost painted her toe a dark blue. "W-Where did that come from?!"

"Well…things with me and Kiba haven't been going to well and I think all the bickering we have been doing is because of that department. We haven't done it yet so I figured it would help to talk to someone who knows a little more about it than me. I would have asked Ino or Sakura but I'm too embarrassed. I'm not as embarrassed with you and I don't see Hinata doing anything like that until she's married. And at times I even question then."

Those made both girls laugh and lighted the mood.

"I get what you're saying and no I'm not, but it's not like I'm experienced or anything. It was only a few times and with the only boyfriend I ever had. So is he trying to pressure you into it because if you're not ready he should respect that." If that was indeed the case the next time Hazuki saw him she was going to punch him.

"Oh I know and he's not. It's kind of my fault. We'll make out and things will start to get heated and move to other things and then right before anything else happened I chicken out and stop it." Reika was almost as red as the folder on Hazuki's desk. "So I can understand why he's annoyed with me but it seems to really be affecting us."

"Well if you keep chickening out then I would say you're really not ready."

"I thought that to but I really do care about him and I really do want to do it. I think I just get afraid and I kind of talk myself out of it. I really don't know what to expect and I don't know if it's going to change things with us," Reika looked down at her green toenails.

"Well it's really not as bad as you're probably thinking and I know I don't have to go into detail if you've gotten as far as you have. So the only thing I can really tell you is that might hurt but only at first. It's also different for everyone and there is always a chance that it can change things between you. However, if you care about each other like everyone can see you two do it shouldn't change much. Have you tried to talk to him about it?" Hazuki asked.

"Yeah and he just blows it off and says everything is fine. If I try to push it, it then turns it into fight and now we don't even kiss anymore. Did it change things for you?" Reika looked up at Hazuki.

"No but we were best friends before we became a couple. Kiba should really talk to you there's no way anything can be fixed if he won't. The only other thing I can think of is just jump into when you have to opportunity. If you're the one to start things up he's not going to stop you he's a guy no guy will stop that from happening and just know once you start you can't stop." Hazuki was trying to think if there was anything else she could say but she wasn't that experienced in this department either.

"I guess you're right. I mean the only thing I can do is try it right. I think I'll try to talk to him again and if it doesn't work I'll try your approach." Reika felt a little better about the whole thing.

"Just make sure you are ready for this because it's not something that can be blown off."

"I know and I will." Reika started to put a second coat on her toes. "Now since we covered my relationship what's going on with Shikamaru? Anything new happen? " Reika knew this was a subject Hazuki didn't like but she also knew Hazuki would tell her more than the others.

"Really didn't we just have this conversation when we were eating?" Hazuki gave her friend an annoyed look which resembled the one Shikamaru gave Ino earlier.

Reika laughed "You're starting to give looks like him. Ha ha and that wasn't a conversation that was you still saying you don't like anyone and then not paying attention."

"Oh shut up." Hazuki threw her yellow star shaped throw pillow at her. "But really nothing has gone on. I mean he did help me with Hidan but that was for his own reasons."

Just than Hazuki remembered the almost kiss at their last shogi game._Why did I forget about that?_ She thought as she debated about tell her friend. It was something that happened but it wasn't something that she was looking for.

"Well at our last shogi game we were joking around and…lost balance and another Choji incidence almost happened."

"Whaaaaat!" Reika yelled. "That's something big!" She threw the pillow back at Hazuki. "When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was right before the sports festival there was too much going on I kind of forgot about it. It's really not a big deal."

"I don't accept that. So what happened? What did he do, how did he react?" She gave Hazuki a huge toothy smile as she rattled off question after question.

Hazuki tried to remember them all so she could answer them. Nothing really happened I ran out. He was just as surprised as I was. No he didn't chase after me like in the movies. He hasn't been acting. I really don't know how I feel I have problems with this kind of stuff.

"I know the signs of liking someone Reika. I've had a boyfriend before. It just didn't end well."

"Well you can't let one guy ruin the chance of being with anyone else."

"I know that but it's not that simple. So will you just please accept me saying that I might like him?"

Reika sighed. "Yeah I guess because I know I'm not going to get anything else from you. But this time can I tell the others?"

"No!"

"Okay then just Hinata. She won't say a word. I need to tell someone." She pleated with Hazuki.

Hazuki sighed. "Only Hinata and I mean it, and Kiba counts only with the girls."

Reika smiled and nodded her head. She was too excited about this. She knew that Hazuki and Shikamaru liked each other she just wanted them to get her heads out of their asses and do something about.

That Monday at school Karin started to make a move. It was around lunch time when Hazuki noticed she kind of had Sasuke corned. Without even hearing a word she was saying you could tell she was flirting with him just by her body language. Sasuke had a look of annoyance because he was trying to get away from her but it wasn't working so Hazuki decided to take matters into her own hands. As she started to walk towards them she called out to Sasuke.

"Sasuke there you are Naruto is looking for you at our spot. Something about the baseball team I think."

Sasuke looked relief and went along with her lie. He nodded and made his way around a pouting Karin. As Sasuke walked down the hall way Karin tried to move past Hazuki but she wouldn't let her.

Hazuki crossed her arms over her chest. "He has a girlfriend. You know short pink hair and pretty. You really should know this already due to the fact that their always together."

Karin sneered. "It's really none of your business. I don't know why you care he's not your boyfriend and I'll do whatever I want to."

It took all Hazuki had not to punch this ignorant bitch right in the face.

"It is my business when it involves my friends. And I don't know what your deal is but I really suggest you stop while you're ahead." Hazuki then turned on her heels and went to join her friends.

At the end of the day when it was time to clean Hazuki made sure she was with Sasuke so she could find out what Karin was saying to him.

"Are you sure she was just flirting?" Hazuki asked when no one was in ear shot.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Really Hazuki, I have my own fan girls I know when a girl is innocently flirting with me."

"I know that but she's anything but innocent. Seriously I mean it you need to watch out for her. I don't know what her end game is but she's a snake."

Sasuke laughed it off. "I get what you're saying and I'll be careful if it will make you feel better."

Hazuki knew that's the best she was going to get from him so she dropped it. _Well it looks like it's still up to Ino and me for now._ She thought. Later that night Hazuki called Ino and brought her up to date. Ino was pissed and couldn't believe how Sasuke was just blowing it off. However, that was Sasuke and Hazuki had to remind her that. They were still in agreeance to not tell Sakura and to keep an even close eye on Karin. The next few days were quite Hazuki hoped that maybe she got thru to Karin but she knew that probably wasn't the case. She was just laying low for the time being because she now knew Hazuki was onto whatever she was doing.

Later on that week Hazuki, Choji, Shikamaru and Ino walked home after school like they did every day. Choji was being abnormally and when he was asked what was wrong he just smiled and said he was fine. They reached their goodbye said goodbye and started heading to their house. Hazuki was only a few steps away when Choji called to her.

"Can I talk to you," Choji asked Hazuki when the others were out of earshot.

"Of course, is this why you've been so quite?"

"Yeah kind of."

The started walking slowly towards Hazuki's house, the same way they did a hundred times.

"So what's going on?" She asked looking over at her friend.

He pointed to the little broken wall a few away from Hazuki's house and they both sat down. Hazuki looked over at Choji as he looked at his feet. He was trying to get the nerve he needed to say what he planned on all day. He knew what her answer was going to be even if Shikamaru said there was nothing there. He just had to know for sure.

"Well hmm. I...I…I have feelings for you and I wanted to know how you felt," He closed his eyes tight as he forced the words out.

Hazuki wasn't expecting him to say something like that. She just started at him like a deer in headlights of an oncoming car. After a few seconds she was able to gather herself as everything registered.

"Choji," She started "I'm flattered that means a lot to me but,"

He cut her off. "I know what you're going to say and its okay really. I know how you and Shikamaru feel about each other even if neither of you will admit it. I just wanted to make sure," He finally turned to her and smiled.

Hazuki's mouth was hanging opened and she could feel her cheeks grow warmer by the second. She thought the first thing he said was a shock but that was nothing compared to this.

When she was finally found her voice she stammered, "What…why…how the hell did you get that?! That was nowhere near what I was going to say."

It was Choji's turn to be shocked.

After a minute he sighted like he was defeated and shook his head. "You and Shikamaru are both too stubborn. Even right now you're blushing and it's oblivious when you see you two together. I just wanted to make sure and from your reaction I do now. And I don't want this to change anything between us. I don't want to lose your friendship."

"I don't want that either. You're really important to me and I do care about you just not in that way. I don't know what Shikamaru has said or how he feels, but I don't have feelings like that for anyone."

Choji nodded even if he didn't believe her. They both agreed to not let this affect their friendship which was a relief to both of them. Hazuki leaned over and hugged him and he tightly hugged her back. He was upset but it would all work out in the end. He wouldn't lose her as a friend and maybe now she and Shikamaru would stop denying it and get together.

"Now that I think about it my cousin back in American keeps bugging me to give her your email. Would that be okay?" Hazuki asked.

"Sure you can never have too many friends. What's she like?"

"A lot like me only she's a little more blunt and a little bit aggrieves then me but not in a bad way, but just watch her."

After a few minutes of talking about Manami they said their goodbyes and headed home. Hazuki was a little overwhelmed with what just happened but she was happy that everything was on the table between them. _And now Manami would be happy that I finally locked that shit down for her..._ _But where is everyone getting that there's something going on with Shikamaru and me? Is that really what it looks like to everyone?... Dammit. What the hell am I going to do? I still don't think I'm ready for this? I feel guilty. _She thought as she brushed her teeth.


End file.
